Greetings,
There are some things in the world that have been given permission to be over the top, even to the point of being campy. Television movies are one of those things. Don't get me wrong. There have been some that were legitimately well made and taken quite seriously. I've seen some of them. I've reviewed some of them. But most could be considered relatives of the soap opera world when it comes to some overacting and ridiculous plots and premises. Not that they aren't entertaining, but you would be remiss to take them too seriously. Such is the case with our review, Crowned and Dangerous.
Crowned and Dangerous is a 1997 made for TV movie about, as you may have deduced from the title, beauty pageants and the wannabe queens that inhabit them. Now you may recall a very tragic incident in 1996, which put beauty pageants and the dangers therein in the forefront of the media. So for good or for bad, they were all the rage around this time, and somewhat remain to this day. The good news is that this has nothing to do with that aforementioned horrible occurrence. No, this is about a very ambitious beauty queen, and in the world of such, ambitious can often be synonymous with crazy. At least, it is in this movie.
The story revolves around a young woman named Danielle Stevens played by Yasmine Bleeth. I know, I know. She was on Baywatch, which will most likely make your expectations drop considerably. But I must say this right off the bat, she actually did a great job here. She really embraced the nutjob of this character, which isn't always easy to do, believe it or not. Anyway, Danielle is pretty obsessed with all things beauty pageant, and she just wants a crown. Any crown will do. And did I mention that in her quest she has an overbearing mother named Cathy played by the late, but still wonderful Jill Clayburgh? Fantastic lady, and she was delicious in this, as usual.
Now what's a pageant without a little competition. Here, it comes by way of Shauna Langley, played by Cassidy Rae. Shauna is the enemy, because she is often the front runner and has the upper hand on Danielle for a lot of reasons. And she's blonde, so, you know, evil. To her brunette nemesis, anyway. Danielle does all she can to undercut her competition any way she can, and I do mean any way. Now to be fair, Shauna is kind of the "good guy" by default, and not necessarily someone we want to root for either. But, really, are these two women so vain and catty that they would fight to the death over a simple beauty pageant? Well, maybe, maybe not. But, here, there's something even better for them to fight over. Enter the boy.
Turns out that Danielle and Shauna have fallen in love, or lust, with the same man, a guy named Riley Baxter, played by - wait for it! - a pre-CSI George Eads. Oh, Crier Nick, what are you doing here? So Riley decides to mess around with both of them, then one thing leads to another and hijinks ensue. Oh, yes, the beautiful hijinks that only a television movie like this can bring into our lives.
So basically that's the premise. I can't go into too much detail about what actually happens because there is so much going on and it's really easy to give things away about the plot and the ending, though it is a tad predictable. It's just one that you have to watch, and you still can because it occasionally is aired on Lifetime or the Lifetime Movie Network. It may even be on DVD. Either way, trust me, this one is worth it. Like I said, it's over the top with the whole premise and what's going on, but that's what makes it fun to watch. I think we've all learned that a movie doesn't have to be a cinematic masterpiece to be entertaining. And this is very entertaining.
Love and full moons,
Becky the Writer
