BOTOX CITY

March 02, 2010 17:50 | by Yumi Stynes

Yumi Stynes just can't separate botox and the movies.

I recently tried to watch Zack and Miri Make a Porno when it screened on Foxtel but was so distracted by Elizabeth Banks' botoxed face that the movie fell into pieces for me. All I could see was that creepy forehead. Any time Seth Rogen started getting his charm on, I just pictured him staring into that immobilised skin and gulping, holding his breath so he could fake liking a girl vain and silly enough to do that to herself.

A similar distraction nearly brings the new New Zealand drama Separation City undone. Joel Edgerton does a valiant job in the lead as a love-struck married man carrying a torch for another woman. It's Rhona Mitra's other woman, Katrien, who distracts the hell out of me with what appear to be multiple procedures and none of them contributing to her acting skills! *sigh* 

Give me a few more years and let's see how my anti-botox resolve holds... but it's just horrible, HORRIBLE when actresses do that to themselves. Nicole Kidman is another case in point. She's gone from being one of the world's leading actors to one of the most derided, and a large part of that crash in esteem stems from the fact that she can no longer move her face.

 In Separation City a lot of adult concerns are discussed (lip-plumping not among them). There's love. Manhood. Parenting. Passion. Edgerton's Simon is in an unsatisfying marriage to Pam where sex is very low on the agenda. When his passions with Pam are repeatedly thwarted, it's almost natural that they start diverting elsewhere, especially when the woman attracting that attention, Katrien, seems so needy, beautiful (!) and bruised. Simon's stoicism is, to Katrien, a giant asset, and their quest for resolution - or consummation - takes them across continents. I liked the film and it's clear that director Paul Middleditch, who spent the earlier part of his life as a political cartoonist in NZ, has an interesting and thoughtful career ahead of him. Perhaps he'll enjoy greater discretion at future castings too.