America the Beautiful (R, 2008)

AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL explores our country's obsession with appearance. Written, produced, and directed by Darryl Roberts, the film begins with 12-year-old Gerren Taylor, who in 2003 was a rising superstar in the modeling world. As the film follows the ups and downs of her fashion career over several years, it highlights the contradictory messages about physical beauty that people of all ages are forced to make sense of every day thanks to a constant barrage of media images. It also explores various issues relating to how people attempt to meet unrealistic expectations of physical beauty, including diminishing self-esteem among young girls, discrimination, eating disorders, and cosmetic surgery.

As fashion execs, tabloid journalists, advertisers, and plastic surgeons discuss how and why they contribute to this unattainable standard of beauty, America the Beautiful proves to be both witty and troubling. Men make candid (and sometimes crude) observations about how important a woman's physical attributes -- like weight, height, and skin color -- are when they think about their ideal mate, but then can't explain why they feel the way they do. There are some heartbreaking moments, too, as the film documents the real devastation that can occur when people buy into the idea of looking "perfect" -- including becoming the victim of botched cosmetic surgery or dying from bulimia.

This documentary, which took five years to complete, doesn't take an unbiased approach to its subject. And most of Roberts' findings aren't particularly surprising, either. But the film is both socially probing and entertaining as it shows how far women have come in American society -- only to still be objectified by idealized standards of beauty that often hold them back. The movie also demonstrates how both men and women are becoming less able to appreciate the ordinary and how incapable they are becoming of finding the true beauty that lies inside them.