Crazy/Beautiful and 3 Other Early Kirsten Dunst Roles You Forgot About
From a beauty pageant satire to a melancholy teen melodrama.
Kirsten Dunst is remembered for a wide variety of roles. There are as many underrated works in the actress' career as there are iconic and recognized performances.
In honor of the actress' birthday, we found hidden gems in her filmography.
1. Crazy/Beautiful, 2001
In Crazy/Beautiful, Kirsten Dunst takes on an unusual role – a rebel who takes drugs, disappoints her parents and struggles to sort out the mess in her life.
Two opposites meet on a Los Angeles beach: Nicole, a congressman's daughter who copes with depression by drinking and partying, and Carlos, a migrant living on the outskirts of city and trying his best to get into the Naval Academy.
The young people fall in love and affect each other's lives in their own ways. John Stockwell made a dark teenage melodrama about the clash of two worlds, the difficulties of growing up and the first tender feelings.
2. Drop Dead Gorgeous, 1999
1999 was one of the most prolific years in Kirsten Dunst's career – the actress starred in seven movies in one year. The audience remembered The Virgin Suicides the most, but during this period a movie of a completely different genre was released – the black comedy Drop Dead Gorgeous.
This is a mockumentary comedy about the filming of a beauty pageant in a provincial town. Correspondents are hot on the heels of the contestants, and the young ladies are ready to do anything for the title of queen.
Seventeen-year-old high school student Amber hopes to win so she can get a scholarship to college and pursue a career in journalism.
3. Dick, 1999
Also in 1999, another comedy starring Kirsten Dunst was released – Dick by Andrew Fleming.
In this parody film, the young Dunst shows off her comedic skills: the actress plays a spontaneous, quirky and naive schoolgirl who, along with her best friend, becomes a frequent guest at the White House.
The teenagers turn out to be the only ones who can prove Richard Nixon's involvement in the Watergate scandal.
4. All I Wanna Do, 1998
Sarah Kernochan's film could easily have found a place on the same shelf as the iconic 1990s teen comedies Clueless and 10 Things I Hate About You, but instead of the recognition it deserved, it received a limited release and eventually faded into obscurity.
In the 1960s, an all-girls boarding school is about to merge with an all-male institution. The girls are horrified at the prospect of studying side by side with boys – in an all-female group, the girls feel more comfortable, have the opportunity to develop leadership skills, and face less competition when they enter college.
Kirsten Dunst plays the mischievous Verena, who reacts to the changes more than anyone else and plots to stop the merger.