Michael Ritchie's SMILE is a satirical, behind-the-scenes look at a California teenage beauty pageant, which also exposes American middle-class mores. The competitors (who seem to favor political maneuvering and backstabbing over talent and poise) provide only part of the story, since the members of the pageant staff are just as interesting--and dysfunctional. These include jury president Big Bob Freelander (Bruce Dern), a straight-laced car salesman; Brenda DiCarlo (Barbara Feldon), the pageant's main organizer; her alcoholic husband Andy (Nicholas Pryor); and even Big Bob's son, Little Bob, who is secretly taking photos of the nubile teenagers with the hopes of selling them to horny classmates. As the week leading up to the unveiling of the new Miss California sparks even more arguments, accidents, and confusion among Santa Rosa's residents, they begin to reveal even greater signs of lunacy. While all of this is going on, the contestants are trying miserably not to buckle under the pressure--or drop their twirling batons. Ritchie's film, a lighthearted critique of American suburbia, pokes fun at the majority of its components, including sexual conservatism, domestic dysfunction, and male bonding (in a hilarious "initiation" scene). SMILE also features a standout performance from Dern in the film's central role.