America's obsession with beauty is the subject of filmmaker Darryl Roberts wide-ranging investigative documentary that shows how beauty product manufacturers manipulate the public.
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06/27/09
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America The Beautiful (2008)
68
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:28
Fresh:19
Rotten:9
Average Rating:6.1/10
Consensus: This doc doesn't expose any new territory about our unattainable standards of beauty, but does manage to entertain with an effective and accessible tone by filmmaker/subject Darryl Roberts.
Rated: Not Rated
Genre: Education/General Interest
Theatrical Release:Aug 1, 2008 Limited
Starring: Eve Ensler, Paris Hilton, Anthony Kiedis, Darryl Roberts
Director: Darryl Roberts
Reviews for America The Beautiful
The film's examination of our beauty-obsessed culture--however familiar--remains unfortunately necessary.
02/04/09
[Director] Roberts has a point of view, yes, but he also has a curiosity that drives him and the movie. Lucky are those who go along for the ride.
11/20/08
Despite the occasional flash of insight, and a few semi-shocking factoids, most women are going to find this movie roughly as illuminating as a remedial math class might be for a Nobel-prize winning physicist.
10/18/08
Top CriticPerhaps in future exposes Roberts will uncover that ice is cold and furnaces hot.
10/18/08
trenchant but not mean-spirited and often hilarious. Roberts approaches the subject with an attitude that is genuinely inquisitive, often bemused, and sometimes shocked, but never judgmental, at least not in his interviewing style
08/30/08
In the documentary America the Beautiful, Roberts explores the cult of beauty in the United States and mostly succeeds in unmasking the flaws of fetishizing skin-deep beauty.
08/29/08
Top CriticIntercutting the costs of American women's chase-after-beauty story (suggesting much waste and futility) with Gerren's personal one never quite blends into an organic whole.
08/26/08
With so many pointless detours ripping you away, the film feels as lamely digressive as the proverbial one-track guy whose head won't stop turning as each new temptation walks by.
08/22/08
Top CriticUnexpectedly witty and affecting.
08/22/08
Top CriticRoberts raises interesting questions, but most of the info is familiar and there's no systematic or comparative perspective to illuminate our culture's obssession with beauty vis-a-vis other wealthy media-saturated countries, which made Sicko a good docu
08/16/08
America the Beautiful provides plenty of food for thought, and Roberts' passion for the subject shines through.
08/08/08
Unlike other documentarians who put themselves in front of the camera, Roberts is an affable screen presence.
08/08/08
Well intentioned but futilely diffuse.
08/08/08
For every unsubtle moment ... there are two or three that forcefully resound.
08/03/08
Interesting but messy.
08/01/08
Top CriticThough not the most sophisticated movie, Darryl Roberts' earnest documentary gets its points across with enough power to make it a valuable experience for both adolescent girls and their parents.
08/01/08
Top CriticClueless, directionless and altogether pointless, America the Beautiful will outrage only those who have spent the last 50 years in suspended animation.
08/01/08
Top CriticA hard-hitting documentary about the negative fallout from America's obsession with physical perfection.
07/31/08
There’s nothing new in Roberts’s film about skinny models, eating disorders, plastic surgery and toxic cosmetics.
07/31/08
Latest News for America The Beautiful
September 06, 2008:
LondonStockExchange.com: Sex sells feeling bad about yourself, from designer vaginas to canine testicle implants, in this indignantly passionate, don't believe the deadly hype documentary. 
More...
July 30, 2008:
Scathing documentary indicts fashion industry for America's unhealthy obsession with beauty.
More...
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