Leave Millie Bobby Brown alone—there’s a new Netflix favorite! Well, no, we’re not trying to arouse the fury of someone who has the power to melt our brains from the inside out; we’re just pointing out that Joey King has a new film on the streaming service, which comes right after A Family Affair. Regarding Uglies, however, she’s taking a more science fiction approach and discovering some harsh realities about beauty in a future society where it’s achievable—but at a cost. Watch the movie’s first trailer here.
In the Scott Westerfeld adaptation Uglies, King portrays Tally, a young woman who is counting down the days until she may get a cosmetic treatment at age 16 that turns her face and body into a model-like physique, a procedure that all city dwellers in her planet endure.
Tally has known this for her entire life—this is the great promise of her civilization, promoted by Dr. Cable (Laverne Cox). till Shay (Brianne Tju), a new acquaintance of hers, escapes and introduces her to a different way of life. Tally is faced with a difficult decision: she has to pick between the society that Shay has showed her and her newly attractive best friend Peris (Chase Stokes), who is waiting for her in the city following surgery.
Though few have ever quite equaled the results of, say, The Hunger Games, Uglies will undoubtedly try to flourish in an environment where there are unmistakable echoes of past YA adaptations (and wannabe blockbusters) like Divergent. Three writers—Vanessa Taylor, Whit Anderson, and Krista Vernoff—as well as McG in the director’s chair raise some red flags.
However, when it releases on September 13th, we’ll see if this one ends up ranking highly on Netflix’s streaming charts.