The Makeover (2013)

What makes it different from others?

Crappy film

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Blistering performances.

The Makeover is itself a remake of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and the musical version of that play, My Fair Lady, but with an interesting twist; the genders of the main characters in the film have been switched. Set in Boston, The Makeover takes much of its initial energy from the contrast between the varied dialects used by the upper and lower classes of that city's population.The film is a fun romantic comedy that is reasonably well acted and photographed. It could have been improved by continuing the musical score through the fades between scenes instead of leaving them silent, but this probably was not considered practical with a made for TV movie.

David Walton plays a delightful 'heart of gold' young man with a keen sense for people. Julia Stiles plays a smart, razor-edged-personality politician who lives in her head. She is a judgmental young woman.It amazes me John Gray, the director, was blind to the 'heroine's' lack of character growth. He didn't show her changing despite her being warned by others who love her. That's all the movie needed to make it heart-warming and worth caring about.It makes no sense that Walton's character fell in love with her. Her mean-spiritedness is endless. She doesn't feel others pain at her sarcastic, hurtful comments or their hurts and losses. She never truly apologizes. It's a disheartening movie, in that a wonderful, talented young man attaches himself to a smart, driven woman who lacks empathy and emotional self-awareness. I found it a downer to watch.Julia Stiles deserved a better vehicle for her acting talent and she ought to have fought for a more teachable, lovable character. Walton ought to have demanded that, too, for his own character's sake. Camryn Manheim, too, was funny, played a good friend to Stiles, but didn't demand enough change, either. A waste of a decent plot.

Honestly I don't know how this movie could be on Hallmark except that the 'charm' was of that caliber. I will say that this movie is hardly a romance except for the last 30 seconds where the two main characters kiss. There is ZERO chemistry or romance buildup or flirting in the entire movie. Near the beginning of the movie there was some hint at maybe there being some remote chance of a romance story line with the male lead getting a makeover from beer man neanderthal with a speech impediment - to a handsome suave man. None of the romance storyline really developed but there were contrived hints along the line of "you need to tell him how you feel" nonsense that felt so out of place.Elliot was a very likable guy, somewhat lower class blue collar fellow from Bah-stun. The 'makeover' context was more about his speech and mannerisms from beer vendor to politician. Julia Stiles' character, however, was the prototypical narcissist. Perfectionist 'linguist' that feels the need to correct everybody who is the slightest bit 'unrefined'. Unfortunately, even with my wholehearted attempt at suspending judgment of her character, she was just not a likable person. She never showed any redeeming qualities, no growth, no kindness. For someone who is altruistic enough to pioneer experimental educational techniques for special needs children, she was the prototypical hag. There were several points where she was in a position to apologize and never remotely did, always blaming something else. It would have been nice to see some sort of emotion out of her, maybe a moment of vulnerability. But there was none. And that's honestly all I needed to like her, but it failed miserably. She was beyond a doubt the ultimate narcissist, and put forth unredeemable abuse onto Elliot for his lack of 'refinedness'. And he kept overlooking how she was just a total witch. There really is no other way to put it. It's abuse, and just because the main character is a woman, doesn't mean her horrid behavior is ignorable. All it would have taken was a moment of vulnerability, but the writers somehow just pushed things forward and patched the conflict with trivial dialogue. It made no sense. Stiles' character insulted Elliot several times, with bitter cruelty, and somehow he didn't have the sense to cut her out of his life. The whole thing was totally unrealistic and the writers seemed to try to get us to want to like Stiles' character although that was never remotely accomplished. The storyline is cheezy, and the idealization of politics (actually changing something good) is far fetched (not realistic with how corporate-focused politicians are), but that is not the point. I would have enjoyed the film better if Elliot with his likability had the chance to teach Stiles' character something about being human or being a decent person. But the film cut out too quickly and somehow got a moment to sneak a kiss in which I found far contrived.I did, however, get some insight into how women can be in politics, that it takes a certain amount of emotional detachment and need to control, perhaps a hint of narcissism. It takes a certain absence of moral and emotional character to be in politics. It's a bit expected of men, in our society, but for women to be into politics (and not all soft- hearted), it seems to require a certain self-centered focus that narcissism provides. In that sense, Stiles played the role of would-be female politician well. I can somewhat understand how someone like Hillary Clinton could want to be in politics, what kind of person she is underneath (really not a good person), and how a politician's wife can overlook "intern sex" scandals. Because there's a bigger agenda overall, that morality, family, etc are trivial in comparison. Julia Stiles' character was thankfully a morally ground politician (how few they are) and cared about real issues (education, crime, etc). But that didn't mean she was likable as a person or worthy of romance from the other main character.Julia Stiles playing a prototypical narcissist is honestly something that is going to be hard to shake from my memory. It's going to distort any further movies I see with her in it, unfortunately.

This sex-change version of George Bernard Shaw's PYGMALION (best known in its musical version of MY FAIR LADY) seems a trifle tired. It works best when it moves furthest from its source; the standout character is Elliot Doolittle's sister, although Frances Fisher as his mother is obviously having a lot of fun with the bowdlerized version of Alfie Doolittle. Julia Stiles as Higgins seems to be clueless about how things actually work and David Walton as Elliot seems to go from a mush-mouthed Southie to someone whose greatest problem with language seems to be when to use "whom" without much struggle.However, it's a great story and despite a few missteps in the script -- intended to make it fit the standard Hallmark romcom format -- it has some great moments of actual comedy. If, unlike its original, it does not start out all head and let the emotions of the matter sneak in later, that is a choice I can understand.One particularly praiseworthy fact is that there are a lot of shots that show how clearly this one is set in Boston, and not just the typical setting shots, but real places that someone familiar with the city would choose. I always take special pleasure in seeing things like that in a movie.