Reputation is everything, but even a good first impression can backfire. Take Skincare, for example, a crime thriller about online harassment that never gets as ugly as its taut plot suggests.
Director Austin Peters, best known for music videos, makes his feature debut for IFC Films in the niche world of luxury cosmetics. Set in 2013 Los Angeles—with flashy jewelry, high-low hemlines, and pop music to match—this psychosexual thriller invites audiences to see the crumbling facade of boutique aesthetician Hope Goldman (Elizabeth Banks).
Hope seems successful enough, beautiful enough, happy enough enoughBut when a plan to launch her own skin care product line goes awry, the secretly crazy beautician finds herself in serious debt. After rival beautician Angel (Luis Gerardo Méndez) opens a competing business, an invisible enemy begins harassing Hope online, bringing the already exhausted business owner even closer to personal disaster.
In 2024, it’s still entertaining to skewer #GirlBoss culture, but the script for “Skincare” is neither funny nor dark enough to stand out in a crowded subgenre. (Try Season 1, Episode 4, “The Outside,” of Guillermo del Toro’s “Cabinet of Curiosities”—you might get better at it.)
“Skincare,” co-written by Peters with Sam Freilich and Deering Regan, is a colorful exploration of hopeless American dreams and the Hollywood It-girl image that’s more akin to “Bling Ring” than “The Neon Demon.” That’s not a bad thing, unless you expect more from the hyper-feminine analysis than it does. A strangely nauseating title sequence — which zooms in on Hope’s patented beauty techniques while Queens of the Stone Age plays over flawless skin — promises a horror-movie-like mystery that simply doesn’t exist. You won’t trick yourself into asking, “Is this girl just… crazy?” but you won’t be able to help but wonder, “Is this seriously… It?”
Courtesy of IFC FilmsPhoto courtesy of IFC Films.
Hope’s problems begin in earnest when she sends out an ominous video of herself. She’s doing nothing special, just coming home after a long day at work, but the seemingly innocuous clip, sent from a blocked number, suggests something worse. The next morning, Hope’s receptionist/assistant/PR manager Marine (Michaela Jaé Rodriguez) tries her best to explain a bizarre email sent to nearly 5,000 of Hope’s contacts. Just days earlier, Hope is filming a lifestyle segment with local talk show hosts Brett (Nathan Fillion) and Kylie (Julie Chang) and is The She’s about to have it all… until the con artist portrays her as depressed, lonely, and literally begging for “a hard cock.” One by one, friends, clients, and acquaintances flee the scene of what appears to be a nervous breakdown – or, even more humiliating, a drunken ploy to get attention.
For women like Hope, dangerous men are always lurking in Los Angeles. Here they are tracked down through the shocking revenge porn tactics experienced by countless real people. Personal ads on some very 2013: Message boards that Hope didn’t place herself, but that bear her face and name, encourage strangers to violently “surprise” her at her business and home. Friendly mechanic Armen (Erik Palladino) and dashing 26-year-old life coach Jordan (Lewis Pullman) are the good guys in Hope’s circle, but when they arrive to offer their help, everything and everyone already feels…out of.
Courtesy of IFC FilmsPhoto courtesy of IFC Films.
The feeling that someone – anyone! – should just talk some sense into our helpless California girl is what gives “Skincare” its toxic core. This pulsing, putrid undercurrent could say something wise about society’s reaction to unmarried women. Instead, the plot quickly loses its strong beginning and becomes a directionless attempt at tension building that is bland and borders on boring.
The events described are sadistic enough, sexist enough, and disturbing enough (a film doesn’t need blood or violence to scare), but they lead to a lackluster finale that feels emotionally shallow. Like countless ill-conceived pretty-girl-meets-ugly-breakdown genre attempts, Peters’ debut seems intent on punishing a single woman for her goals. But “Skincare” never explains that impulse to destroy Hope on screen.
Courtesy of IFC FilmsPhoto courtesy of IFC Films.
The aesthetic of “Skincare” tries something different, but mostly to its detriment. The vibrant hues once associated with millennial brands like BuzzFeed and later reused ad infinitum for comedies like Hulu’s “Palm Springs” don’t fit the nightmare unfolding in broad daylight. In theory, that sunny quality could have become a kind of thematic aggressor, but the temperature is never raised beyond the point of discomfort; the tension wanes in the second half.
As for Banks, she brings something new to the role, foregoing her “Pitch Perfect” bravura and instead delivering a semi-realistic portrayal of a wannabe actress on the brink. Unfortunately, the script never takes her anywhere of note, and the actress spends much of the film looking like she’s in a deleted scene from 2014’s “Walk of Shame.” Only a small portion of this story feels like it was intended as a horror comedy, but a spicing up of the satire would have at least given the star something more interesting to do.
Although Skincare is full of problem areas, it shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand. Director Peters shows promise in establishing his world, and later finds a strong footing by closely examining the characters when they’re alone in their apartments. Pullman, a later lover, and Méndez, that spiteful rival, do particularly good work in portraying the inner lives of the men in Hope’s toxic environment. Jordan and Angel, who sing for one with Katy Perry and The Cure respectively in some well-filmed one-person karaoke sessions, anchor Peters’ thesis by being imperfect even in private.
How we look on the outside and how we are on the inside don’t always match up, and this discrepancy can shatter our self-image. The metaphor also extends to “Skincare” itself, as a film that looks radiant at first glance but ends up being boring despite all the effort and self-care.
Grade: C+
IFC Films’ “Skincare” won’t be in theaters until August 16.
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