Elizabeth Banks impresses me. She’s willing to take chances on quirky films like Cocaine Bear and now Skincare. Or perhaps she just likes titles that rhyme. (smiley face)
At any rate, she’s gambled on a movie based on a true story of which I can’t wait to look up what aspects are true, a testament that the film works. The director Austin Peters, and part of the trio of screenwriters (Deering Regan and Sam Frelich), came up with a tight hour and a half minute script which is impressive in itself in these days of bloated 3 hour plus films.
Short spoiler-free synopsis: A hard working business woman in California gets screwed over by several people. Or: a naive woman gets taken advantage of by crummy creeps.
Elizabeth plays the main character and is believable for most of the film. There are a few places toward the end when I questioned her choices, in the equivalent of a horror story sort of way, where you want to say aloud, ‘why are you going in the scary dark barn alone?’. Yet, she is stuck in this maddening middle slot where she’s pretty and smart enough to make it fairly successful, but not beautiful or cut throat enough to be truly cared about or intimidating. And in California apparently, this type of middle ground will get you used and abused.
Skincare offers two other famous actresses (besides Banks), Golden Globe winner Michaela Jae Rodriguez and Golden Globe nominee Wendie Malick. Other notable non-famous actors include: Lewis Pullman, Lewis Gerardo Mendez and Nathan Fillion.
The cosmetics and cosmetology industry always seems to border on the bogus which helps make Skincare definitely worth seeing in these dog days of summer.
