Miss All American Beauty (1982)

An 18 year old girl (Diane Lane) enters a beauty contest to win a scholarship for college. However, an unexpected win sets in motion a chain of events and she is entered in the national pageant, far away from her home and family. The stress and tension of being a beauty contest winner begins to wear her down. Directed by Gus Trikonis, this trite and cliched look at a young girl and the beauty pageant system has been done better, notably the satires SMILE (1975) and DROP DEAD GORGEOUS (1999). However, this one takes itself seriously but it comes across as a dull version of VALLEY OF THE DOLLS but without the hysteria and kitsch. I felt sorry for Diane Lane, a very talented actress, who can't do a thing with the role except flounder. Her character is saddled with one of those cliched perfect all American families, complete with annoying siblings and understanding parents. As her chaperone, Cloris Leachman overacts alarmingly but Jayne Meadows as the ruthless pageant head brings some much needed flash to the project. The telefilm could have used more of her. With David Dukes and Brian Kerwin.