MADE-UP

MADE-UP is a feminist satire on culture’s obsession with beauty, especially as it affects older women. It stars Brooke Adams, the wife of TV star Tony Shalhoub of MONK, who directed this movie. Adams plays Elizabeth, a middle-aged former actress and ex-alcoholic, who reluctantly agrees to appear in her sister Kate’s student documentary, where Elizabeth’s daughter Sara will touch up her gray hair and sagging face. The hook is that the will use Sara’s makeover of her mom to confront Elizabeth’s ex-husband, who left her for a self-absorbed, younger artist named Molly. Shalhoub plays Elizabeth’s befuddled new suitor, who gets confused between the old Elizabeth and the new one.

MADE-UP starts off funny enough, but the low budget, jerky camera movements, and meandering, convoluted script become tiresome after the first 40 minutes. The script clearly needs its own makeover, and the actors and director badly need more money and time to accomplish what they tried to do. The artistic poverty of this work is more in need of extreme caution than the mature content, which is only perhaps mildly offensive. Although the movie’s perspective is feminist, it is not overtly didactic. In fact, there is much good to be said against modern society’s obsession with physical appearance, and the film also rebukes the green monster that is called jealousy. MADE-UP also contains plenty of light foul language, plus two strong profanities.