Source: Vogue – 10 AUGUST 2021
Is there a better, cheesier Hollywood trope than the makeover montage? Comedies and rom-coms love to take a leading star and give them a splashy new look – sometimes when they desperately need it, other times when they seriously don’t. But no matter what the end result, you can’t deny it’s highly entertaining to watch someone go from an “ugly duckling” (however the movie defines that) to a beautiful swan. But not all transformations are equal; some are well-done, others are lazy. So, Vogue is looking back on 20 iconic movie makeovers and rating them on a scale from 1 (bad) to 5 (good).
What constitutes a good movie makeover, you ask? For one, and this may seem obvious, but the “after” needs to be dramatically different. Give us some production value! Remember when they just took Rachael Leigh Cook’s glasses off in She’s All That? That earns it a low ranking in our eyes (hopefully the remake, He’s All That, starring Addison Rae, will feature a better makeover). When Halle Berry morphed from Patience Phillips into Catwoman in the 2004 flick, however? Her all-leather outfit was a far cry from the shy wardrobe worn by Phillips; in other words, it was a top-tier transformation.
1/20
‘She’s All That’ (1999)
The premise: Rachel Leigh Cook’s character, Laney Boggs, is given a makeover once she starts dating Freddie Prinze Jr’s Zack Siler, who is a popular jock that has taken on a bet to make her – gasp! – popular, too.
The execution: The problem begins with Cook being objectively beautiful to begin with. The film tries to convince us otherwise, putting her in glasses and paint-splattered overalls, and deeming her “quirky” and “bookish.” Then, when she emerges in a red dress with her hair down and contacts in – voila! A star is born, as though she were a hideous monster before.
Final rating: 1 out of 5 glasses. The styling? Lazy. The innovation? Non-existent.
2/20
‘The House Bunny’ (2008)
The premise: Zeta Alpha Zeta – a sorority house made up of socially-awkward “geeks” – meet their new house mother, named Shelley (played by the amazing Anna Farris), who is a former Playboy Bunny. With Shelley’s help, the girls all undergo a makeover in order to gain popularity, which they need for more pledges in order to save their sorority house.