Critic Reviews

The genius of “Skincare” is how it uses Los Angeles and its image- and celebrity-driven culture as a metaphor for empty lives.

The tone is dry farce that never strays into camp, with a mildly sardonic appreciation of oddballs recalling such Robert Altman films as “The Long Goodbye.” A creepily discordant musical score by Fatima Al Qadiri adds immensely to the feeling that everyone is hiding something and no good will come of it.

Austin Peters’ Skincare knows exactly what it’s doing, balancing a sense of total desperation with just enough camp to convey its nightmarish situations without ruining your day.

The film’s greatest asset, along with a sun-dappled cinematography, Banks is certainly game for every shade of Hope in her journey of poor decisions, escalated by bad luck and an eerie city that couldn’t care less about who falls down or survives the elements unscratched. In that, “Skincare” nails a routine well worth investing in.

Skincare is like a quick trip to the local spa. It’s not going to change your life, but it provides instant gratification and helps you escape for an hour and a half.

In Skincare, Elizabeth Banks leads a tense, socially conscious thriller that cleverly blends suspense and social commentary to create an engaging, if uneven, experience.

Though Skincare’s script lacks bite or balance, Elizabeth Banks gives a riveting lead performance with assistance from Lewis Pullman as her sketchy sidekick.

Banks’ and Pullman’s deliveries of these tragicomic characters elevate what could have been merely a genre exercise into something more fascinating and satirical.

Skincare is the perfect vehicle for Banks’s style, the cinematic equivalent of a Barbie-mobile with 60s Cadillac fins. The audience gets to ride shotgun as she speeds through the flashy, splashy visuals to get to the long tunnels of persecution.

Fortunately, despite its stranger-than-fiction premise, this thriller does have a handful of interesting ideas outside of the realm of true crime. Unfortunately, it also all but abandons those ideas in its messy third act, making for a mixed bag of a movie.