Skincare is a 2024 thriller that follows an aesthetician mogul Hope Goldman (Banks) who becomes the target of a series of attacks, which she believes is thanks to a new rival Angel (Mendez) who has moved in across the lot from her. As she turns to her new self-help guru Jordan (Pullman) for help, she begins to realize he might not have her best interest in mind. Starring Elizabeth Banks, Lewis Pullman, Luis Gerardo Mendez, and Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Skincare is an underrated flick that might not stand out in any one aspect. Still, it won’t make you feel disappointed in any area either.
Skincare is like the jack-of-all-trades movie: it sets out to accomplish a lot and try a lot of different storylines while not doing any particularly great. A lot of the story revolves around Hope’s life deteriorating as she believes she is being targeted by a new aesthetician who opens up shop in her lot. She begins losing clients, loses her spot on the local news beauty segment, and becomes the victim of more and more violent crimes. While it’s not a unique story, I did enjoy the movie more when it focused on Hope’s breakdown and her trying to get her life figured out. I think the movie did start to suffer as it introduced more subplots.
Having the subplot with Nathan Fillion’s TV host character did nothing for me. It went nowhere and just left a sour taste in my mouth. Lewis Pullman’s character Jordan as the self-help guru also wasn’t my favorite. There is something about Hollywood hipster characters that I can just never buy into. There’s just a way these characters are written that is so superficial and not in an ironic way. However, I did like what his character became as the movie progressed. Hope’s friends have moments of doing stuff but never have a shining moment. The same goes for Angel, who doesn’t have a lot going on, yet and is the driving force behind the plot of the movie.
Yet this movie is powered by Elizabeth Banks’s star power. She sells her descent perfectly as her “perfect life” begins to crumble. She becomes unhinged and unstable, yet she can piece herself back together, even after putting all her faith and confidence in others to do it for her. She is a fighter, and she ends up being the one who can save herself in the end.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Skincare might not be on your radar like it wasn’t on mine, but it’s a good movie. It does try to do a lot with the story and some things don’t work as well, but it doesn’t do anything poorly. It’s paced well, it’s very well acted, and the story is engaging enough over the full runtime. It might not be a movie that knocks your socks off, but it’s the most 3-star movie I could think of.
