America the Beautiful (2007)

Director:

Darryl Roberts

Writer:

Darryl Roberts (writer)

Genre:

Documentary

Tagline:

Does America have an unhealthy obsession with beauty?

Plot:

In a society where "celebutantes" like Paris Hilton dominate newsstands and models who weigh less than 90 pounds die from malnutrition...

Plot Keywords:

Surgery | Plastic | Anorexia | Fashion

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Shelby Nicole Cannon	...	Herself
Ted Casablanca	...	Himself
Eve Ensler	...	Herself
Paris Hilton	...	Herself
Chris Keefe	...	Himself
Anthony Kiedis	...	Himself
Darryl Roberts	...	Himself
Martin Short	...	Himself
Jessica Simpson	...	Herself
Gerren Taylor	...	Herself

MPAA:

Rated R for some language, including sexual references.; Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material, sexual content, disturbing medical images, and language. (edited edition)

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

USA:R | USA:PG-13 (certificate #45729) (edited edition)

Filming Locations:

USA

Company:

Sensory Overload Productions

Trivia:

Darryl Roberts spent five years of his life making 'America the Beautiful'.

Soundtrack:

Hey! Baby

Interesting... but information overload...

America the Beautiful is the newest documentary to tackle the issue of America's obsession with beauty. It mainly chronicles a 12 year old model becoming a grownup in the fashion industry, but also touches on plastic surgery, human insecurities, and an odd website called beautifulpeople.net, a dating service which accepts members by their aesthetic appeal. It's a curious documentary which has a lot, yet very little to say. The filmmaker remains neutral throughout the film which makes you question what he was trying to uncover since the topic is nothing new (though of course it is relevant). The film is a little frenetic and although all of the ideas have the same underlying theme, there is an odd disjointed feel as the film maker jumps from point to point. It seems like the film was never meant to be seen on the big-screen either as the quality is quite poor... and in the middle of the credits a strange tagged on interview/commercial suddenly jumps loudly onto the screen. It's an interesting watch and you definitely learn a lot, but this film could definitely have used some extra time in the editing room.