Lipstick has a lot of big ideas and many of them are admirable, but at a scant 90 minutes, it feels like it's 3 hours too long. It all starts when a model named Chris (Margaux Hemingway) is raped by her younger sister's music teacher (Chris Sarandon) and takes the case to trial with Anne Bancroft as her lawyer. Eventually, the man is let free to continue terrorizing Chris and her little sister.
This is a movie that takes a long time to get going, but once ait does, watch out. The finale to this movie is absolutely insane and unforgettable. In many ways, it's your typical rape-revenge narrative, but the final revenge Hemingway dishes out is very memorable and over the top.
Unfortunately, Hemingway isn't very good in the film and rarely convinces as anything other than a pretty face, which makes her plight more difficult to relate to. Her younger sister, Mariel, out acts her in just about every scene. This makes it very tough to get very invested in the story and what happens to the character, because it feels like she's already reading her lines off of cue cards.
I was still surprised by how sleazy the film is yet also takes sexual assault very seriously. It's surprisingly feminist.
This is a movie that takes a long time to get going, but once ait does, watch out. The finale to this movie is absolutely insane and unforgettable. In many ways, it's your typical rape-revenge narrative, but the final revenge Hemingway dishes out is very memorable and over the top.
Unfortunately, Hemingway isn't very good in the film and rarely convinces as anything other than a pretty face, which makes her plight more difficult to relate to. Her younger sister, Mariel, out acts her in just about every scene. This makes it very tough to get very invested in the story and what happens to the character, because it feels like she's already reading her lines off of cue cards.
I was still surprised by how sleazy the film is yet also takes sexual assault very seriously. It's surprisingly feminist.