Made-Up (2002)

41% of critics liked it
(32 reviews)
38% of users liked it
(99 ratings)

Award-winning actor Tony Shalhoub adds the "director" hyphenate to his calling card with this labor of love, starring his wife, Brooke Adams, and written by his sister-in-law, Lynne Adams. Made-Up lightly parodies the reality-TV "makeover" craze as it tells the tale of Elizabeth (Brooke Adams), a… More Award-winning actor Tony Shalhoub adds the "director" hyphenate to his calling card with this labor of love, starring his wife, Brooke Adams, and written by his sister-in-law, Lynne Adams. Made-Up lightly parodies the reality-TV "makeover" craze as it tells the tale of Elizabeth (Brooke Adams), a middle-aged divorcée who agrees to be made over by her daughter Sara (Eva Amurri), a process which will be documented for eternity by her aspiring-filmmaker sister, Kate (Lynne Adams). A former actress still smarting over her long-since faded stardom, Elizabeth is none too pleased at having her transformation videotaped, but she goes along with it, and soon finds that her "new you" is winning over the affections of a new beau, restaurateur Max (Shalhoub). But self-doubt continues to nag at Elizabeth, to the point where she almost undermines her own chances at romance. Lynne Adams based her screenplay on her own one-woman play; Gary Sinise makes an appearance as Elizabeth's ex-husband. ~ Michael Hastings, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 1 hr. 36 min.
Directed By: Tony Shalhoub
Genres: Comedy

In Theaters: May 14, 2004 Wide
On DVD: Aug 30, 2005

Critic Reviews

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press
A lot like Tammy Faye Bakker; you just know it has good intentions, but it ends up as a smeary facsimile of what it wants to be.
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe
It wants, as Kate says about her documentary, to be a 'seminal work on beauty and aging.' But it wears like a gauzy romantic comedy.
Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
A comedy with lots going on and with considerable depth and complexity.
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
It's hard to resist this family affair.
Andrew Sarris, New York Observer
The rest of the cast spend so much time trying to avoid tripping over each other and the electric wires strewn all over the carpets that the suspension of disbelief becomes an increasingly strenuous chore.
Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News
Both painfully self-indulgent and awkwardly self-conscious.
Sean Means, Salt Lake Tribune
Delivers billboard-sized messages about preconceptions of beauty and youth..., before the whole thing goes off the rails into a forced and humorless farce.
Walter Chaw, Film Freak Central
Salvaged by one meta-read that carries some weight as Shalhoub, an Arab-American of Lebanese descent, directs a film about the ills of stereotyping based on appearance.
Paul Sherman, Boston Herald
This tiresome movie feels too flimsy for the waters beyond the film festival circuit.
Jean Lowerison, San Diego Metropolitan
It's a family affair that unfortunately looks too much like a feature-length home movie.
Brent Simon, Entertainment Today
Droll... but too psychologically fuzzy to engender more than of-the-moment laughs, Made-Up ping-pongs from cultural satire to wan proclamations of 'sisterhood.'
Timothy Knight, Reel.com
Resorts to tired shtick and soap-opera-level tensions to drive its points home with all the subtlety of a brick flung through a window.
Glenn Whipp, Los Angeles Daily News
The film wants to satirize both our fixation on appearances and reality filmmaking, but its strained humor and litany of cliches add little to either topic.
, E! Online
If Made-Up sounds all over the place, it is. And we don't suggest you follow.
Hazel-Dawn Dumpert, L.A. Weekly
Voice-overs and commentaries are piled on top of contrived intimate moments until, despite some easygoing performances, the movie -- the actual movie -- is a blur of undercooked motivations and halfhearted improv.
Jules Brenner, Filmcritic.com
The few meaningful moments occasionally generated are all but engulfed by fussy, meaningless distraction and wandering trivialities
Shirley Sealy, Film Journal International
A fun, irresistibly charming movie.
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice
Made-Up is a funny film that catches the different shades of beauty in the lives of a small cross-cut of women.