Skincare review
Elizabeth Banks delivers a fiery and inspired performance in Skincare, a surface level thriller that desperately needed a payoff worthy of its star’s efforts.
Banks (Charlie’s Angels) stars as Hope Goldman, a semi-renown L.A.-based aesthetician set to launch her own skincare brand. Hope is a hustler with the drive, charm and sales pitch down to inspire plenty of confidence in everything she’s selling. It’s not all talk though.
Hope is like an artist applying the skincare techniques to her clients and she uses her own supply as well. And she’s feeling pretty solid after hyping her line on a national talk show co-hosted by her pal (Nathan Fillion, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3).
Peering below Hope’s “everything is fine” facade is an entrepreneur taking comedic steps to avoid her retail landlord Jeff (John Billingsley, This Is Us). Hope’s immaculately manufactured house of cards starts to buckle when a new skincare business opens across the business plaza. The owner, Angel (Luis Gerardo Méndez, Me Time), isn’t exactly throwing the gauntlet down yet clearly isn’t worried about any competition from Hope.
That’s enough to get Hope on a slow road to Paranoia-Ville. One of her clients, (Wendie Malick) introduces Hope to her latest boytoy, Jordan (Top Gun: Maverick’s Lewis Pullman in a smart typecast breaking performance).
Just as her business is set to boom, Hope’s email gets hacked and she starts receiving an onslaught of crude text messages. The incidents are damaging enough that some of Hope’s influencer contacts (Ella Balinska, Medalion Rahimi) back off and start going to Angel. Convinced Angel is ruining her business and her life, Hope gets Jordan’s help to set things right.
MORE:
- One Fast Move review
- Divorce in the Black review
- Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F review
- Deadpool & Wolverine movie review
Austin Peters, who directed music videos for artists including Diplo, Orville Peck and Haim, leans too hard into a music video presentation. Skincare is packed with booming, often ill-fitting music selections in setting scenes. They’re more of a distraction than an unconventional yet welcome complement.
Peters does do a decent job of creating and fostering tension. It’s not hard to envision Peters smoothing out his rough edges and becoming prolific at not just setting up a competent thriller but also delivering a satisfying one.
As the film plays out and Hope’s harassment escalates, the main…hope is that screenwriters Sam Freilich, Deering Regan and Peters will avoid making the conclusion predictable. To Peters’ credit, he tries to throw out a few red herrings but they’re too obvious and nonsensical to warrant much consideration. They are better with the satirical aspects of self-care, but the same care is not applied to making good on the thriller component.
One of the big problems with the film is that Hope might be mildly self-absorbed, but she’s not so terrible a person where it’s amusing watching her squirm and otherwise get emotionally tormented. Her biggest “crime” is trying to convince anyone who will listen that her business is about to blow up. She’s not the jerk character that’s fun to root against and welcome seeing get humbled or taught a necessary lesson.
Banks is terrific at selling Hope’s paranoia and increasing desperation, but as the film reaches its final act it’s clear she’s carrying the load for a film that can’t match her energy. Pullman is also very good even if Jordan’s arc is frustratingly underdeveloped. Michaela Jaé Rodriguez has a decent supporting role as Hope’s secretary/PR manager.
Given the film has three credited screenwriters it’s puzzling that some obvious questions and plot holes are left unanswered. Character motivation is spotty and even the final scene is non-committal to any kind of resolution.
Skincare is about 3/4 of an engaging thriller that falls apart with a final act that undermines its foundation.
Rating: 5 out of 10
Photo Credit: IFC Films