Movie Critique – Elisabeth Moss Gets Overshadowed by Kate Hudson in Oddball Film
There are scenes in the dumped B-movie frightfest Shell that would make it seem like a giddy tipsy cult favorite if taken out of context. Picture the scene where the actress's glamorous health guru makes her co-star to operate a large sex toy while making her stare into a reflective surface. Additionally, a cold open highlighting former performer Elizabeth Berkley tearfully removing shells that have appeared on her body before being killed by a unknown murderer. Next, Hudson serves an sophisticated feast of her removed outer layer to excited diners. Furthermore, Kaia Gerber becomes a massive sea creature...
If only Shell was as hilariously enjoyable as the summaries imply, but there's something strangely dull about it, with performer turned filmmaker Max Minghella having difficulty to bring the luridly indulgent pleasures that something as ridiculous as this so plainly demands. The purpose remains unclear what or why Shell is and who it might be for, a inexpensive endeavor with minimal appeal for those who weren't involved in the filmmaking, appearing more superfluous given its unlucky likeness to The Substance. Both center on an LA actor striving to get the roles and recognition she thinks she deserves in a ruthless field, unjustly judged for her appearance who is then seduced by a transformative treatment that offers quick results but has frightening drawbacks.
Even if Fargeat's version hadn't launched last year at Cannes, four months before Minghella's made its bow at the Toronto film festival, the contrast would still not be flattering. Even though I was not a big enthusiast of The Substance (a garishly made, overlong and hollow act of deliberate offense partially redeemed by a brilliant star turn) it had an unmistakable memorability, easily finding its appropriate niche within the pop culture (expect it to be one of the most parodied films in next year's Scary Movie 6). Shell has about the same amount of substance to its obvious social critique (female appearance ideals are extremely harsh!), but it can't match its extreme physical terror, the film ultimately resembling the kind of cheap imitation that would have followed The Substance to the video store back in the day (the lesser counterpart, the knock-off etc).
The film is oddly headlined by Moss, an actor not known for her levity, miscast in a role that requires someone more willing to dive into the ridiculousness of the subject matter. She collaborated with Minghella on The Handmaid's Tale (one can understand why they both might crave a break from that show's relentless darkness), and he was so desperate for her to headline that he decided to adjust for her being visibly six months pregnant, resulting in the star being awkwardly covered in a lot of big hoodies and outerwear. As an uncertain star seeking to push her entry into Hollywood with the help of a exoskeleton-inspired treatment, she might not really persuade, but as the slithering 68-year-old CEO of a dangerous beauty brand, Hudson is in much more command.
The actor, who remains a perennially underrated force, is again a joy to watch, mastering a specifically LA brand of pretend sincerity underscored by something genuinely sinister and it's in her unfortunately limited scenes that we see what the film had the potential to become. Coupled with a more comfortable sparring partner and a wittier script, the film could have come across like a feverishly mean cross between a 1950s female melodrama and an 80s creature feature, something Death Becomes Her did so exceptionally.
But the script, from Jack Stanley, who also wrote the similarly limp action thriller Lou, is never as sharp or as clever as it could be, mockery kept to its most obvious (the finale hinging on the use of an NDA is funnier in theory than delivery). Minghella doesn't seem certain in what he's really trying to produce, his film as bluntly, ploddingly shot as a TV drama with an just as bad music. If he's trying to do a self-aware direct imitation of a low-rent tape fright, then he hasn't gone far enough into deliberate homage to convince the audience. Shell should take us all the way to the brink, but it's too scared to take the plunge.
Shell is up for hire online in the US, in Australia on 30 October and in the UK on 7 November
