Miss Firecracker is a very peculiar film, little doubt about that. I still don’t know whether to say if it’s a very good movie or not, but there are certainly some funny bits, and some very spectacular moments of satire that deserve to be seen.

The movie deals with Carnelle, played by Holly Hunter, who so desperately wants to win the Miss Firecracker beauty contest in the small town of Wazoo City. She is so desperate that she ends up getting fired from her job at the fish plant; she takes a lunch break that’s just a little too long, when she goes off to talk to the organizing committee and to find someone who will make her costume for her.

At the same time, two important people in her life reemerge, two of her cousins, in fact -- Elaine (Mary Steenburgen) and Delmont (Tim Robbins). Elaine and Delmont are brother and sister, and certainly have a very odd relationship. For one thing, Elaine put Delmont in the insane asylum, after he got into a fight with a man, using a beer bottle. I guess Elaine thought that this act was crazy enough that the man ought to be locked up in the crazy house rather than the jail house.

........well, actually, Delmont is a pretty crazy fellow in any case. The first time we see him, he’s out in the middle of nowhere, picking up roadkill. When he finally snaps and quits, he yells out to his boss a rather pedantic and philosophical statement about wanting to experience the world, which is intriguing considering that the man looks like some poor white trash. It’s interesting to note later on that his big dream is to go to university and hopefully become a philosophy professor.

Elaine's pretty crazy too in her own way. She visits Carnelle, supposedly to help support her in the beauty contest, but also to apparently get away from her husband. Elaine wants to divorce him, although the husband keeps calling and sending her flowers, but apparently not getting the hint. But is Elaine really planning on leaving the husband? And is she really hoping to support Carnelle all the way in this contest?

Alfre Woodard is also in this film, as “Popeye”, apparently because of her big glasses and buggy eyes. She is definitely an oddball sort as well, and gets into a swoon whenever the fairly intense Delmont finds himself in her presence.

All of these characters are, well, characters. Nobody ever acts normal in this picture -- and if you’re repelled by forced quirkiness, I’d suggest that you stay away. I say forced quirkiness because it’s easy to suggest that this film goes more than a little out of its way to be strange and peculiar. All of the performances are over-the-top, and many of the scenes do their damnedest to be wacky. Wackiness also applies to the relationships between a number of the characters, especially that of Elaine and Delmont. Call me sick, but for some reason I think this brother and sister seem a little too close. Sure, half the time they argue with each other, but they seem to act a little too familiar with each other, for some odd reason of mine. But.. call me sick, like I say.

I don’t mind oddities, necessarily. When I write stories, for example, even with plots that are generally serious, I have this occasional obsessive habit of interjecting some oddball or irreverent material. Of course, that can get you scraping fairly close to bad taste, but that isn’t always a bad thing. And, the fact is, people are pretty strange. In some ways, perhaps it’s more realistic to show people acting funny and odd, even in the face of seemingly less funny and odd subjects, than it is to show them acting rigid and serious, even if it leads to offensiveness (although Miss Firecracker is far from being offensive, however).

As detached observers, however, we naturally expect to see something a little more realistic, or, in turn, a little more comedic. This movie, however, is more odd, than anything else. Occasionally, I laughed loudly at a few lines, but for the most part I was just quietly amused at the oddity. The movie is not so much a “comedy”, but a very, very quirky drama. Some people, however, may not appreciate this particular balancing act.

But, I think, no matter what you may think of the picture, you simply must agree that the beauty contest itself is a comedic highlight. What we are witnessing is pure cheeseball Americana -- the sort of stuff that you can only get at these small town fairs and the like. Hunter’s own routine is a dance to a chintzy version of The Star-Spangled Banner, and is brilliant in its utter tackiness.

I don’t know what to make of Woodard’s character. With her country accent, her big glasses and her buggy eyes, and her rather wonky personality, I was guessing at whether this was just one big racial stereotype, but maybe I’m just overly sensitive. In truth, she’s probably not much more strange than any of the other characters.. .but perhaps some people might see this person as somewhat offensive, I don’t know. What do you think?

Overall, it’s hard to really judge the performances, because except for a few moments near the end, there aren’t any serious moments. It’s all about wackiness and over-the-top behavior (being based on a play, it’s likely that the actors were probably acting according to what would be expected on stage), but it’s true that all of the main actors are having fun on screen, so that ought to be a good sign.

I was juggling with the notion as to whether to recommend or not recommend this movie. I laughed a number of times, enjoyed the quirky characters occasionally, although sometimes I was annoyed. Now that I think of it, I will give Miss Firecracker a recommendation, for at least, it’s different, and does get enough laughs and even some charm for it to be a good time-waster during a quiet and slow evening.








Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day