In 'Skincare,' cutthroat competition in the L.A. beauty industry leads to a face-plant

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As a high-flying Hollywood aesthetician on the brink of catastrophe, Elizabeth Banks brings depth to a skin-deep screenplay that you wish was smarter about L.A.

Director Austin Peters makes his narrative feature debut with “Skincare,” a slice of nasty L.A. noir set within the beauty industry, starring Elizabeth Banks as a celebrity aesthetician whose reputation crumbles around her over the course of two weeks. The film calls to mind other dark, salacious thrillers that satirize a city seemingly obsessed with image — think of “Nightcrawler” or even “American Gigolo” — and Peters wields the style and tone of this subgenre with skill.

Pullman is delightfully slimy as an unhinged delusional narcissist, high on his own supply of motivational word salad that he spews into his laptop camera. He’s a descendant of Tom Cruise’s “Magnolia” character Frank T.J. Mackey, but with all the wits of one of Michael Bay’s lunkheaded “Pain & Gain” crew. Banks, on the other hand, brings a flinty mean streak to the striving Hope. Though she’s a victim here, she’s not entirely sympathetic and Banks tiptoes that fine line carefully.

 

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Elizabeth Banks’ ‘Skincare’ Review: Beauty Industry Meets Coen BrothersThe satirical film, co-starring Michaela Jaé Rodriguez and Lewis Pullman, is fun and twisty, even if it could stand to be more outrageous.
Source: thedailybeast - 🏆 307. / 63 Read more »