Drive, the action-flick starring street justice hottie Ryan Gosling is burning up the box office, and for the most part reviewers agree it's plenty exciting. But on her personal blog, former New York Post and Us Weekly film critic Thelma Adams points out of the film's most glaring—and stunning—flaw: Carrie Mulligan's hair. She writes:
"And then enter Carey Mulligan as Irene, exsqueeze me, a Denny's waitress with a kid. And a husband in prison. Living in a squat downtown motel suitable for Charles Bukowski. No offense to Mulligan, but she's so miscast—so dewy not dingy. It's a reflection of the filmmakers' enormous blind spot that they think no one will notice, or care. Irene's blond highlights and bob alone would cost $500."
You know what? It's true. Mulligan's hair is chic and gorgeous in Drive. She has brand spanking new highlights, and a just-so tousle to her shiny locks. She looks like she's selling salon shampoo, not an uber-violent drama.
Adams' inability to suspend her disbelief reminded me of some other times I've been taken out of a movie by beauty incongruities. Like in Iron Man 2, when Mickey Rourke's Ivan Vanko is slaving away on a bootleg Iron Man suit in the middle of an iceberg or something, and yet with every close up of this supposed hardened, impoverished man we got a screen-full of Rourke's pillowy lip injections. Or when Rachel Leigh Cook was supposed to be a mess pre-makeover in She's All That just because she was wearing unfortunate overalls. Overalls don't hide crystal-clear skin so luminous it would glow in the dark! (See also: The premiere episode of Zooey Deschanel's Fox sitcom The New Girl.)
But back to Mulligan's lustrous hair: It's eye-pleasing but it is a problem. Movie makeunders—from Mariah Carey's subtle mustache in Precious to Charlize Theron's head-to-toe transformation in Monster—are necessary to sell the idea that these (unusually beautiful in real life) actresses are living their less glamorous onscreen-lives. And while you can certainly be a blue collar mom who wants out of her marriage and still have cute hair (see Michelle Williams' bangs in the other Gosling film Blue Valentine), there is something about Mulligan's high-maintenance-looking color that would seem to require a blockbuster paycheck.
What do you think of Mulligan's hair? And has a beauty look ever taken you out of a movie?
RELATED LINKS:
Five Movie Makeunders You Won't Believe
Daily Beauty Reporter: Is It True That "Playing Ugly" Wins Women Oscars?
