Tabloid

The latest documentary by Errol Morris ("The Thin Blue Line", "The Fog of War", et al) is about Joyce McKinney, a former Miss Wyoming who became famous for two events in her life -- an incident in the UK in the late 70's known as "The Case of the Manacled Mormon" and a more recent event in which she paid a Korean company $150,000 to clone her deceased pit bull, Booger.

it's the first story that is the main subject of the film and which provides the title -- it prompted a battle in England between the Daily Mirror and the Daily Express on who could dig up the juiciest stuff.

In classic Morris fashion, she is the key and very willing participant in telling her story. What emerges is a portrait of a woman whose sense of romantic entitlement drove her to extreme actions. The first story including a kidnapping of her intended, a Mormon missionary, a sex-filled weekend in a cottage in Devon to deprogram him, flights from justice and a host of other details.

Each sequence of the film serves to add more detail of a woman who is, in the words of the Daily Express reporter who followed her story, "barking mad". Although this is arguably correct, it's also interesting to see the degree to which they were complicit in the legend.

Good fun and recommended.
--------------------------
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld