Movie Review: SKINCARE

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer

Posted: August 16th, 2024 / 04:48 AM

Rating: R
Stars: Elizabeth Banks, Lewis Pullman, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Wendie Malick, Erik Palladino, John Billingsley, Ella Balinska, Luis Gerardo Mendéz, Nathan Fillion
Writers: Sam Frelich & Deering Regan and Austin Peters
Director: Austin Peters
Distributor: IFC Films
Release Date: August 16, 2024

SKINCARE begins with the onscreen statement, “This is a fictional story inspired by true events.” Those interested in SKINCARE’s factual basis can easily look it up online. The reality is almost as odd as the tale that unspools in this dramedy thriller.

Elizabeth Banks stars as Hope Goldman, who has set up her Hope Goldman Skincare studio in the Crossroads of the World complex on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. We meet Hope in an extreme closeup of her facial epidermis, then pull back as she carefully applies her makeup.

We see Hope looking bleak, and we can hear police outside. Titles inform us that we’re in 2013 Los Angeles.

We then flash back to two weeks earlier. Hope is being interviewed about her new skincare line on a Los Angeles chat show hosted by Brett (Nathan Fillion) and Kylie (Julie Chang). We see that Hope and Brett have a cordial relationship.

Hope and her publicist/assistant Marine (Michaela Jaé Rodriguez) are full of fizzy joy, sure that being on TV will send Hope’s brand skyward.

But a nearly simultaneous set of incidents conspire to thwart Hope’s plans. First, Hope is outraged to discover that her studio’s landlord Jeff (John Billingsley) has rented out the space across the courtyard to a rival skincare entrepreneur, Angel Vergara (Luis Gerardo Mendéz). Hope’s position is weakened by her overdue rent.

Hope is also subjected to a disastrous online hack that sends a phony email to everyone in her address book. Among other things, it claims that she wants a stranger to fulfill rape fantasies.

Twenty-six-year-old new friend and life coach Jordan (Lewis Pullman) offers to help Hope with her email problems. But Hope catches her erstwhile clients going to Angel, finds her car tires slashed, and even has an aggressive man show up at the studio.

Small wonder that Hope becomes increasingly paranoid, defensive, and angry.

The screenplay by Sam Frelich & Deering Regan and director Austin Peters rocks us along with Hope this way and that, so that we are often surprised right along with her. Just a few years ago, some developments might have seemed over the top, but courtesy of all the true-crime and #MeToo reporting out there, everything here seems plausible.

Hope, as played by Banks, is extremely attractive. Sometimes she can parlay this to her advantage with male would-be suitors; sometimes it leads to unfair expectations on their parts. SKINCARE is sympathetic to how these pressures weigh on Hope, but don’t paint her as a victim. In some instances, she is shrewd enough to get the upper hand. In others, it causes disaster.

Director Peters has a keen grasp of Hollywood nuances – so much so that SKINCARE doesn’t fully avail itself of the title subject matter. Almost anything, from acting roles to automobiles, could be the commodity involved, and it seems like the film would play out much the same.

On the other hand, perhaps it’s just as well SKINCARE doesn’t strain to underscore a metaphor between the inherently looks-obsessed beauty profession and Hollywood in general, since it’s already in front of us here.

Banks easily persuades us of Hope’s flaws and glimmers of humanity, and Pullman pivots seamlessly between Jordan’s multiple aspects. Fillion is splendidly smarmy as the talk show host, Billingsley is authentically beleaguered as the property manager, and Rodriguez conveys loyalty and concern as Hope’s colleague.

Angelenos may enjoy getting to see Crossroads of the World utilized so much and so well. Fans of thrillers with jaw-dropping stranger-than-fiction narratives will find much to intrigue them in SKINCARE.

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