Described as a fictional telling of a true story, Skincare marks the directorial debut of Austin Peters, who tackles the cutthroat world of the female beauty industry. With a starring role from Elizabeth Banks, Skincare sells the promise of perfection: with the forthcoming launch of her beauty skincare line kneecapped by several knockbacks, aesthetician Hope Goldman becomes the target of stalking and harassment, suspecting new local beauty trader Angel Vergara as the man responsible. Lewis Pullman, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Lui Garardo Méndez and Nathan Fillion co-star.
Despite the saying "truth is stranger than fiction", Skincare reconfigures that sentiment by using the real events of this story as a springboard for its own ideas, a notion primed to enable artistic creativity and originality. Written by Peters alongside Deering Regan and Sam Freilich, all of whom are receiving their first feature writing credits here, the avenues for Skincare to explore are plentiful and bountiful, with a worthy film caught in fleeting glimpses throughout what otherwise amounts to a deeply underwhelming end result. Desperately needing a more seasoned hand to guide it in the right direction, Skincare is the victim of inexperience, without the bravery, skill or sophistication to push it in the right - or, indeed, any - direction confidently.
With those faults embedded in the screenplay, it's rocky (but not unsalvageable) ground for any director to find themselves precariously balanced upon. Unfortunately unable to hide the blemishes behind the camera either, Peters struggles to develop a unified vision for the piece, constantly pulled between tonal avenues and narrative strands, unable to find a fully-fledged path. While he suffuses adequately sleek sheen into the visuals, benefitted by the glamour of the impressive set designs, Peters is once again hindered by a lack of experience in the role that ultimately swallows him up.
Banks is truly radiant as Hope Goldman, and single-handedly the film's strongest USP. Attempting to maintain the immaculate prim-and-proper facade the industry thrives and dies on, Banks' perfectly measures her turn to reflect the escalating chaos; any role that requires a descent into madness runs the risk of feeling incidentally messy - particularly one this tonally uneven - but Banks avoids overplaying herself and instead thrives as the increasing paranoia threatens to bubble over. Strengthened further by such gorgeous costuming, alongside faultless hair and make-up design, Banks looks every inch the star, with these finer details enriching our understanding of the character tenfold.
Despite the remarkable potential of an artistically free project and a winning star turn from Elizabeth Banks, Skincare is both overstuffed and underdeveloped, lacking a firm tonal or narrative cohesion that would cement it as an exciting debut. Wasting a perfect starting point by playing too loose and spreading itself too thin, the film neither leans into camp hilarity or psychological thrills enough to develop either particularly well. The products under the title's namesake are primarily used to treat the surface, and Peters' effort is passably entertaining in that regard, almost solely on the back of Banks' committed performance. But on a deeper level, with no unifying tonal voice or narrative confidence, this Skincare needs to be recalled.