filmcritic . com presents a review from staff member robert strohmeyer . you can find the review with full credits at <a href= " http : //filmcritic . com/misc/emporium . nsf/2a460f93626cd4678625624c007f2b46/7bdd22b907aeefa0882569690006544d ? opendocument " >http : //filmcritic . com/misc/emporium . nsf/2a460f93626cd4678625624c007f2b46/7bdd22b907aeefa0882569690006544d ? opendocument</a> few things simultaneously sicken and seduce the feminist spirit in quite as thorough a way as an american beauty pageant . now an inextricable fixture on our cultural landscape , the pageant defines , glorifies , and objectifies woman as a prescription for all time . an evening spent watching the miss america proceedings on tv is like a psychosexual time warp , dragging us back to a kinder , simpler time when the female of the species need not worry itself over difficult issues like voting or wearing shoes . so it was not without a sense of irony that i walked down the cinema for a screening sally field's beautiful . irony is the central force of field's representative pageantry , and in the tradition of drop dead gorgeous , it is no disappointment . but this is also a human story , about women in search of identity and belonging . mona ( minnie driver ) is a dubious beauty queen , having spent her entire life contesting--against all reason and likelihood--for the crown of miss american miss . though not graced with especially striking looks from the outset , and born into a household that makes hee haw look glamorous , mona's years of determination and artificiality are finally paying off . she has become miss illinois . now , if she can keep her false persona straight , she stands a chance of winning the crown . and if it weren't for the untimely suicide of her best friend's convalescent patient and the disqualifying existence of her 7-year-old daughter ( played by hallie kate eisenberg , that annoying little girl from the pepsi commercials ) , victory might be simple . fortunately for moviegoers , life is not so simple . but equally unfortunately , much of this tale's delivery is bogged down by an incongruous sense of vision . at the story's outset , it is compelling and funny . young mona is precocious and endearing as she struggles to grow up and prove her self worth in the shadow of her alcoholic mother . her drive to win beauty pageants is a believable compulsion , though fraught with ridiculous overtones . but , by the time driver steps in to play the role , mona has become little more than a caricature . she is absurd and unloving , one-dimensional in her desire to win pageants and incapable of basic human emotion . this lack of humanity makes the character fundamentally boring to watch , in spite of driver's obvious talent . eisenberg , however , is--though i so hate to admit it--quite good in her role as the young vanessa ( except for the argument scenes , in which her shrill screaming was more deafening than interesting ) . once we've made it through the long , irritating period of watching how far mona's personality has degenerated , eisenberg's performance as the story's conscience-bearer is a much-needed refreshment . too quickly , though , does this spiral into an uncontrollable finale of cheesy feminist messages . sally field's direction is , for the most part , above par . but this film is disappointingly short on substance . in the end , mothers and daughters may bond over many of the movie's funnier , heartwarming scenes , but most moviegoers will do well to wait for the dvd . 
