America the Beautiful | Rotten Tomatoes

America the Beautiful

R

Released Aug 1, 2008

1 hr. 45 min.

Documentary

List

73%

33 Reviews

Tomatometer

66%

500+ Ratings

Audience Score

Questions and interviews explore America's obsession with beauty.

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Critics 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.

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Audience Member

good doc check out part 2

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

Full Review

Audience Member

thoughtful and well informed look at the beauty industry and ideals in America and beyond

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/11/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Interesting and sometimes shocking documentary, but on the whole there is nothing new or surprising here. The film covers a multitude of different topics without delving too deeply into any one of them or delivering any original insights. Still recommended as food for thought.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/28/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I saw this rare treat on Netflix. With an election coming up, the banality level is going through the roof. I'm one of those persons who urges voters to 1) become informed and 2) be discriminate in what passes as knowledge. This movie does not take sides, but in the scream loud nonsense and flat out lie until people believe you, the far right (even the close right) is winning hands down. However, the movie is none-too-gentile on the liberal psychobabble on child rearingâ"so don't expect your side to be handled "fairly" while the other side is righteously blasted to fire and brimstone. Some viewers will be offended by the violence as two characters--a middle age man and teeny-bopper --blast away the many ills and evil they find in contemporary society. (Where were these guys when I needed them when a person disrupted a movie with their cell phones?) However, the violence is more like a pointer in a presentation--"Look at this" --than the kind of violence in the blood baths found in horror films that have no message other than to scare dates into a clutching snuggle. Some who see this film will come away with "OMG, they shot a reality show star!" and others will think, "Not a bad idea..." The whole point is to look at what has happened to our culture, as smallness and meanness have replaced any kind of nobility and decency. (Even 'nobility' has come to mean 'entitled.') Just you wait, though. Some half-wit will claim films like this 'caused' the massacre at the Batman movie. They'll have missed the point entirely and perhaps belong on that list of contemporary shallowness in thought and deed.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/14/23

Full Review

Audience Member

All women should watch this. Wow. They really mess with our heads!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/19/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Interesting but still didn't manage to change my mind...

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

Full Review

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Darryl Roberts

Director

Ted Casablanca

Self

V

Self

Paris Hilton

Self

Anthony Kiedis

Self

Darryl Roberts

Self

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Anna King

Time Out

Rated: 2/5

Nov 18, 2011

Full Review

Andrea Gronvall

Time Out

Rated: 3/5

Nov 17, 2011

Full Review

Jessica Reaves

Chicago Tribune

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.

Rated: 2/4

Oct 18, 2008

Full Review

Debbie Lynn Elias

Behind The Lens

Touching on the tip of an iceberg, AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL takes you to the precipice with its thought provoking commentary on our society and then keeps you hanging on long after you leave the theater...

Nov 6, 2019

Full Review

Melissa Camacho

Common Sense Media

Probing docu about society's obsession with looks.

Rated: 3/5

Jan 2, 2011

Full Review

Jennifer Merin

About.com

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.

Rated: 4/5

Jun 27, 2009

Full Review

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Synopsis

Questions and interviews explore America's obsession with beauty.

Director: Darryl Roberts
Screenwriter: Darryl Roberts
Distributor: First Independent Pictures
Production Co: Sensory Overload Productions
Rating: R (Sexual References|Some Language)
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 1, 2008, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): May 23, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA): $76.2K

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