Kirstie Alley dead at 71: You can’t stream Drop Dead Gorgeous in Australia

If Kirstie Alley’s unexpected death has stirred in you an insatiable need to revisit some of her career highlights, there’s one movie you’ll have to leave off your list.

Frustratingly, it also happens to be her best film – and the last mainstream studio flick she made.

The movie is Drop Dead Gorgeous, a biting and uproarious satire from 1999 with an impressive ensemble cast. But in one of those weird quirks of digital and streaming rights, you cannot legally find it online in Australia.

Drop Dead Gorgeous is not streaming on any platform, nor is it available to rent or buy in any digital store such as iTunes or Google Play. You can’t even buy it on DVD – unless you managed to find an old copy on eBay, and probably for the wrong region.

So unless you picked up a DVD copy 15 years ago – or maybe taped it on VHS off the TV at some point? – Drop Dead Gorgeous is not on your viewing list tonight.

Which is a damn shame because that is a cult movie which overcame its initial bad reviews to be recognised as the masterful comedy that it is.

And Alley was perfectly cast in an ensemble that also included Kirsten Dunst, Denise Richards, Allison Janney, Brittany Murphy, Ellen Barkin, Mindy Sterling and a pre-famous Amy Adams.

If you haven’t had the pleasure of experiencing the comedy gold that is Drop Dead Gorgeous, the movie is centred on a mid-90s local beauty pageant in the American state of Minnesota.

Sponsored by the fictional Sarah Rose Cosmetics, the American Teen Princess Pageant brings out the worst in the small town of Mount Rose. Everyone wants to win, and some will stop at nothing.

Dunst plays Amber Atkins, a sunny teen who wants to use the opportunity to give herself a start as a TV anchor, following in the footsteps of her hero, Diane Sawyer, who had won a beauty competition in 1963.

Amber is from the poor side of town, living in a caravan with her mum Annette (Barkin) and next door to her mum’s mate Loretta (Janney). She’s the underdog we’re supposed to cheer on.

While there’s a whole cavalcade of contestants including the brother-obsessed Lisa (Murphy) and bimbo Leslie (Adams), her main competition is Becky Leeman (Richards), the only daughter of the town’s wealthiest family.

The Leemans are rich, judgmental and wear their Christian faith as a weapon. Becky and mum Gladys (Alley), herself a former pageant winner, are ruthless. Not coincidentally, “accidents” keep befalling Becky’s rivals.

Directed by Michael Patrick Jann, Drop Dead Gorgeous is an eviscerating take-down of pageant culture – and the often wild, hypocritical and slightly nuts personalities in that world.

A lot of the characters are archetypes and some of that 1990s humour plays a little awkwardly now, but it’s riotously fun and punchy. And Alley as the self-righteous, vicious and eventually unhinged Gladys is absolutely on form.

And because the movie is done in a mockumentary style, set behind the scenes of a particular community, Drop Dead Gorgeous is a bit like a pricklier and less nuanced version of Christopher Guest movies such as Best In Show and For Your Consideration.

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Maybe reminding everyone of a movie they can’t watch in Australia – the ins-and-outs of digital rights are so annoying – is a bit of a slap in the face.

Or maybe it will inspire you to text around and find which of your friends have held onto their physical media (seriously, never throw out a DVD) and has a copy.

Or you’ll have to be content with a Look Who’s Talking marathon.