About Face: Supermodels Then and Now

:

Season 1
  • Network: HBO
  • Series Premiere Date: Jul 30, 2012
Metascore
73

Generally favorable reviews - based on 10 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 10
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 10
  3. Negative: 0 out of 10

Critic Reviews

  1. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Ken Tucker
    Jul 27, 2012
    91
    About Face is raucous and lovely. [3 Aug 2012, p.69]
    All this critic's reviews
  2. Uncle Barky
    Reviewed by: Ed Bark
    Jul 27, 2012
    83
    Filmmaker Timothy Greenfield-Sanders (The Black List, The Latino List) might have done well to just keep the camera on [Carmen Dell'Orefice] and let everyone else hit the cutting room floor. But other former supermodels are quite interesting as well, among them Isabella Rossellini, Jerry Hall, Paulina Porizkova, Carol Alt, China Machado, Marisa Berenson and Lisa Taylor.
  3. Denver Post
    Reviewed by: Joanne Ostrow
    Jul 27, 2012
    80
    HBO tackles some familiar territory--beauty and the perils of aging, crowsfeet to sagging cheeks--but treats the subject from several new angles thanks to the candor of the older, wiser, still stunning former models.
  5. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Linda Stasi
    Jul 30, 2012
    75
    Fewer models with more time to talk about themselves and much less about the "fabulous people in the industry" that treated them like goddesses would have made this documentary as good as it is glamorous.
  6. People Weekly
    Reviewed by: Tom Gliatto
    Jul 30, 2012
    75
    About Face addresses some deeper implications--Gia Carangi's early death is a cautionary tale--but knows better than to over do it. [6 Aug 2012, p.39]
    All this critic's reviews
  7. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Nancy DeWolf Smith
    Jul 27, 2012
    70
    Nobody here offers shattering insights into the meaning of life or even of modeling. They're just among a large group of attractive women telling stories to the camera.
  8. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Hank Stuever
    Jul 27, 2012
    70
    The meandering approach does manage to excavate some fascinating tales and memories.
  9. Boston Herald
    Reviewed by: Mark A. Perigard
    Jul 30, 2012
    67
    Photographer and filmmaker Timothy Greenfield-Sanders accessorizes his picture with some vintage clips, but his Face could do with fewer mouths.
  10. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Allison Keene
    Jul 30, 2012
    60
    Instead of going in-depth with a few models, there's a carousel of names and familiar faces each awarded only a few soundbites, taken up mostly with biography, before the camera moves on.
  11. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Neil Genzlinger
    Jul 30, 2012
    60
    There are interesting tidbits about the history of fashion photography--the racism, the drugs--but not much serious discussion about the cultural consequences of the evolution of the business.