Tabloid DVD

DVD Review by Kam Williams

Headline: DVD Recounts Bizarre Behavior of Sex-Crazed Miss Wyoming

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and apparently that even goes for a beauty queen with an I.Q. of 168. That would be Joyce McKinney who enjoyed a whirlwind romance in Salt Lake City with a guy named Kirk Anderson following her reign as Miss Wyoming in 1973.
The blubbery 300-pounder was so flattered that Joyce found him attractive that he told her “I love you!” the night they met, and then proposed to her the very next day. The trouble was that he was also a Mormon and his devout parents disapproved of the hasty liaison. Plus, he was scheduled to depart to England soon, to do the missionary work expected of all members of the Church of Latter Day Saints.
But Joyce just couldn’t get over being jilted, so she placed a classified ad for a pilot and a bodyguard for help in locating and liberating her runaway fiancé. They eventually tracked him down to a church in London where they abducted him at gunpoint, before driving him not back to the airport but rather to a cottage in Devon 250 miles away.
Joyce had her henchman tie Kirk to the bed spread-eagled, and she proceeded to rape the fat man repeatedly for the next several days. Her rationale was that sex would be the best method of deprogramming him from what she felt was a cult.
However, instead of seeing the light, the object of Joyce’s affection escaped and had her and her accomplice arrested for kidnapping and sexual assault. The sensational story served as fodder for lots of lurid newspaper headlines in Great Britain until the accused jumped bail and escaped back to the States, never to be extradited or to face justice again.
Tabloid, a bizarre bio-pic about a good girl gone bad, is the latest offering from Oscar-winning documentarian Errol Morris (for Fog of War). The film proves as fascinating as the rest of Morris’ intriguing body of work, given how it delicately unravels the mystery of exactly how and why Joyce planned and executed such a kinky conspiracy.
What might be most remarkable is the fact that the now wheelchair-bound mastermind cooperated with this project and remains in denial to this day, asserting, “I still don’t think I ever did anything wrong.” A thought-provoking picture raising the probing question: Can a woman rape a man, or is it merely assault with intent to please?
You be the judge.

Excellent (4 stars)
Rated R for nudity and sexuality.
Running time: 88 Minutes
Distributor: MPI Home Video
DVD Extras: The theatrical trailer.