Headstrong Mona Hubbard is fiercely driven to capture the coveted Miss American Miss beauty award, but an unusual circumstance teams her with a soccer-playing, deep-dimpled little girl named Vanessa.
Acting
Minnie Driver commits HARD to unlikable protagonist energy.
Direction
Sally Field's sole directing credit—she's giving personal, not polished.
Director
Sally Field
Minnie Driver
Mona
Joey Lauren Adams
Ruby
Hallie Eisenberg
Vanessa
Kathleen Turner
Verna Chickle
Leslie Stefanson
Joyce Parkins
Bridgette Wilson-Sampras
Lorna Larkin (Miss Texas)
Kathleen Robertson
Wanda Love (Miss Tennessee)
Michael McKean
Lance DeSalvo
Gary Collins
Miss American Miss Host
Linda Hart
Nedra Hibbard
Brent Briscoe
Lurdy
Colleen Rennison
Mona at 12
Jacqueline Steiger
Ruby at 12
Herta Ware
Clara
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Sally Field never directed again after this, reportedly frustrated with studio interference and the difficulty of getting projects greenlit as a female director in that era.
This quietly joins a tiny wave of late-'90s/early-'00s films (Anywhere But Here, Tumbleweeds) about difficult women reluctantly mothering—rarely celebrated, usually forgotten.
US
GB
