‘America the Beautiful’: Artful, but Ready for a Makeover

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The New York Sun

Perhaps it was filmmaker Darryl Roberts’s intention, when he set out to make a documentary criticizing this country’s obsession with physical perfection, to end up with a shoddy little message vehicle that appears to have been shot on a camcorder. In one sense, “America the Beautiful,” which opens Friday at Cinema Village, features an artful fusion of form and content. In another sense, it could use — forgive the expression — an extreme makeover.

Mr. Roberts comes across as a very sympathetic fellow, and he has chosen an interesting subject and the right time to explore it. Thanks in part to makeover reality shows, the popularity of cosmetic surgery in America is at an all-time high. And the film (albeit rather haphazardly) throws some alarming statistics up on screen: Americans make up 5% of the world’s population, yet are exposed to 40% of its advertising; 46% of girls between the ages 9 and 11, surely influenced by fashion magazines, are “sometimes or often” on a diet.

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