Movie review and summary of “Uglies” (2024)

The genre dominance of youth media in the early 2010s was undeniably dystopian. The Hunger Games kicked things off in 2012, and in 2014, Divergent, Keepers, and Maze Runner followed, each coming out one after the other. All of the dystopian young adult novel adaptations mentioned above stormed the cinemas and sent their adoring fans straight to their seats. Scott Westerfeld's book series Uglies was in the usual company of these titles at the time, but is only now making its big entrance on the big screen. Directed by McG (Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, The Babysitter), Uglies is set in a world that has broken down the divisions of class, creed, race, and country through one great equalizer: beauty.

In this world, there can be no conflict when everyone is perfect and pretty. On their 16th birthdays, people undergo life-changing procedures that make them physically perfect: longer limbs, brighter eyes, and zero blemishes. These 15-year-olds and younger are among the “Ugly,” who live in brutalist-gray housing projects on the outskirts of the golden, towering City of Pretty. Tally (Joey King) is a few months behind on her best friend Peris' (Chase Stokes) birthday. As he prepares for the procedure, they make a pact to stay in touch in the months leading up to their reunion. But when he remains silent, she infiltrates the city to find him. Now indifferent, apathetic, and demeaning as an “Ugly,” her procedure can't come soon enough.

Meanwhile, Tally befriends Shay (Brianne Tju), an equally ugly woman who shares her birthday. They pass the time riding hoverboards and secretly reading Thoreau's Walden. But as the day approaches, Shay confesses that she has no intention of becoming pretty. Instead, she plans to live authentically and flees to “The Smoke” to join a fringe group of outlaws led by the elusive David (Keith Powers). When Shay misses her appointment for the procedure, Tally's appointment is rescheduled by Dr. Cable (Laverne Cox), a government official who knows about their friendship and uses Tally's transformation as collateral. Only after she finds Shay and brings her back to town is Tally allowed to be pretty. But when she enters the world of The Smoke and meets the mysterious David, Tally's worldview is challenged as she begins to wonder if the straightforward world of the ugly and the pretty is darker than she believed.

“Uglies” feels anachronistic in its mood and execution. The world is a CGI playground and much of the film uses gimmicks to transport us into its futuristic setting. While the tricks involving toothpaste pills, AI rings, and hoverboards likely appear in the source text, the film's superficial depiction of those tricks is incredibly cheap. And even with the implied excitement these possibilities should convey, “Uglies” fails to set the tone for the adventure aspect that is the film's climax. The high-stakes action-oriented scenes fall flat both technically and on paper given the clumsy artificiality.

The film's pace races from one scene to the next and back again. There's no room to breathe and engage with the world McG is trying to create. Likewise, the value of the film's thesis is clear: superficiality is fake and limited. It's by no means a profound thesis, and at its core it's certainly age-appropriate for the target audience, but even so, the film does little to engage beyond the surface. It's a point made in the first 20 minutes and repeated with tangential approaches for the rest of the running time.

The acting performances are hard to match the shallowness of the script. King embodies the classic, tired cocktail of desperation and determination that a typical dystopian main character in a young adult novel embodies. As the evil Dr. Cable, Cox carries out her cold deeds with a standard, deadpan, eerie boredom. On paper, she's neither particularly nuanced nor scary, but the film values ​​her villainy highly, creating a dissonance in the film's intent and impact. The most authentic performances in the film are those of Powers' David, who actually has something to subvert through his character's lore and mystery, and Tju's Shay, who has more to think about than exactly what's happening in the present moment. Powers and Tju bring a touch of emotional connection to a film that ends up being mostly dull and predictable.

Uglies is an Orwellian tale with weak persuasion. Compared to its contemporaries, it's a disappointing volume in the young adult dystopian canon. With little to add to its main thesis and lazy world-building, the film falls short of both entertainment and engagement.