One of the worst movies ever

I'm watching it now, and it IS an awful movie! I'm almost an hour into it, and I want to bail out and try it again someday.

Minnie Driver is NOT attractive enough to carry this off. She is not beautiful, not even by the most-generous judgment. It's as if she wandered into another movie and is trying to fit in. It's an insult to say that she could be Miss Illinois (or Miss any-other-state) when she has no talent; judging by the bits and pieces that she performs, she definitely has no talent! If it was a local pageant, that might be acceptable. But, she's OLD! Face it: Unless this was a spoof... No, it would fail at that, too.

This woman is a despicable character, and we're stuck with her as the lead. It's impossible to like this selfish, inconsiderate, stupid, dim-witted woman. Now, if she was someone in the nurse's life, with Joey Lauren Adams as the lead character, it might have a chance. HKE is doing an extremely poor job, coming across as one of those old-Hollywood precocious kiddies. I would have thought she would be better, but her performances in those soft drink ads were better. I don't believe how her character has developed, not if she believes Adams is her mother. The seven-year jump from announcing her pregnancy to full-fledged daughter is especially ridiculous! The script is extremely sloppy, and it's difficult to believe that a veteran actress directed it. Sometimes, the scenes appear to be walkthroughs, rehearsals for the real take.

Maybe with someone else in Minnie Driver's place it might have worked, not a woman with clear signs that she is nowhere near pageant age. Does she lie on the entry forms, too? I suppose so since we see her cheat, steal, injure, etc.

I'm still debating whether I care enough about any of these people to stay with them for at least an hour more. Maybe I had a notion about this film and kept putting off watching it for so many years. Maybe I'll have to try the rest of it another time.

Oh brother! The little girl is telling off the woman who is her grandmother and is defending the idiotic, vain woman who won't even acknowledge her own child because she wants to be in pageants! This IS awful! I have high blood pressure, and this one has my heart thudding, meaning it's bugging me greatly! I'll try to find a horror film, which definitely should settle my nerves after THIS horror!

Don't pick on the person who started this thread because this IS an awful movie~perhaps not the worst, but awfully, dreadful bad! We deserve out own opinions of a film that I will never suggest to anyone unless they want a dreadful film about beauty pageants.

She can't even spell "Wal-Mart"?! And, she thinks they are Pomeranians?! She should be playing the villainess. That would work because she's so easy to despise.

Oh brother! It's the bedtime scene, and they obviously are trying to make this woman sympathetic. That's not going to happen.

I sort of like Minnie Driver as an actress, but not in this film. She simply isn't suited for it.

I detest beauty pageants, but this makes me want to defend them a bit. I'm certain the winners are intelligent young women. Driver's character is a dud all the way 'round.

By the way, I'm an Illinoisan, and I don't watch pageants. I'm in my late 50s and have loved movies all of my life. So, I have the right to say when one is rotten. This is a very bad apple.

~~MystMoonstruck~

EDIT: I stayed till the end. WHY?!?! What a supid ending! I really should have tuned out because it's an utterly ridiculous wrapup! This just moved closer to the "worst" mark. What a stinker it is, and what a ludicrous ending~totally unbelievable~with her 7-year-old daughter on one hip, accepting a mother who has been denying her all of her life, with everyone applauding this woman! Does that mean she is as stupid as her mother? I have to say it again: What a stinker, especially with the sappy song playing now! After watching the woman for all this time, I'm not about to saw, "Awwwww... She's just misunderstood." Baloney!

NOTE: I tend to support most films getting slammed, stating what is good about them. But, there's absolutely nothing about this one to defend, and that's truly unusual for me. No wonder the cable guide gives it one star; that's being generous. My vote definitely is 1.