Starring: Mini Driver, Joey Lauren Adams, Hallie Kate Eisenberg, Kathleen Turner.

Mona (Driver) is an enterprising child who dreams of beauty pageant success to escape a less than perfect childhood. Lacking affection & interest from her mother she meets up with Ruby (Adams) a selfless girl & her grandmother who become the family that Mona needs.

Jump to seven years later & Mona has developed into a self absorbed & unlikable character with a penchant for viscously sabotaging her competitors. Not to mention there is a child in the picture. She is one step away from her childhood dream and will not let anything get in the way. You know how it goes - things get in the way and force Mona to take a good look at herself.

Thankfully this film does satirically explore the absurdity of beauty pageants i.e. An interpretive baton twirling routine set to ‘A Bicycle Built for Two’ but it doesn’t bite quiet deep enough for me. It’s good to see Sally Field behind the camera and she imbues Beautiful with more heart than I would expect.

Driver successfully pulls of a largely unlikable character with her comedic talents & avoids saccharine pitfalls.

One thing to keep in mind is if you are expecting a lot of screen time form the wonderful Kathleen Turner you will be disappointed. She makes a brief appearance as Mona’s childhood pageant coach.

THE EXTRAS

* Theatrical trailer

* Talent profiles: Mini Driver, Kathleen Turner & Sally Field

* Trailers for other Mad Man Cinema Releases

CONCLUSION

You aren’t going to bust a gut laughing but if you like something light weight with a slight message, Beautiful could be for you.