{"id":258812,"date":"2026-01-22T23:23:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T23:23:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/258812\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T23:23:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T23:23:12","slug":"the-beauty-review-an-absolute-riot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/258812\/","title":{"rendered":"The Beauty review \u2014 ‘an absolute riot’"},"content":{"rendered":"

FBI Agents Cooper Madsen (Evan Peters) and Jordan Bennett (Rebecca Hall) investigate a sexually transmitted virus that transforms people into the perfect version of themselves. But when those infected start dying in horrific fashion, a wider conspiracy unfolds with tech billionaire Byron Forst (Ashton Kutcher) at its centre.<\/p>\n

Streaming on:\u202fDisney+<\/p>\n

Episodes viewed:\u202f11 of 11<\/p>\n

The Beauty\u00a0starts with a bang, and not the horned-up kind\u00a0you\u2019d\u00a0usually expect from series creator Ryan Murphy. Sex is intrinsic to this story, but the opening foregoes it in favour of the consequences that follow in a world where chlamydia should be the very least of your worries. Without spoiling too much, the first scene is a bloody, explosive affair that sets the stage for gruesome thrills in the pursuit of so-called\u00a0\u201cperfection\u201d.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

How the busiest guy in TV found time to create a mix of\u00a0The\u00a0X-Files<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0American Horror Story\u00a0meets The Substance<\/a>\u00a0is\u00a0almost as\u00a0implausible as the show itself. Yet here we are with Murphy\u2019s commentary on\u00a0\u2018Ozempic culture\u2019,\u00a0which is\u00a0almost as\u00a0vapid as those caught up in it. What other show would consider naming characters\u00a0the Corporation (Ashton Kutcher) and\u00a0the Assassin (Anthony Ramos)? Or preface every episode title with the word\u00a0\u201cBeautiful\u201d? To be fair,\u00a0no-one\u2019s\u00a0coming into the\u00a0\u2018Beautiful Pilot\u2019\u00a0expecting depth or rigour. The show\u2019s appeal lies in the grotesque extremes that come amid supermodel quips and the noir-esque\u00a0mystery at its heart.<\/p>\n

Said mystery is led by\u00a0Evan\u00a0Peters and\u00a0Rebecca\u00a0Hall, two of the best actors to ever work within the Murphy stable. Here they bring plenty of gravitas, continuing to play it serious even as the story becomes increasingly absurd. At times, it feels like\u00a0they\u2019ve\u00a0been pulled in from another show entirely.<\/p>\n

But unlike\u00a0All’s Fair<\/a>, Murphy\u2019s even trashier recent hit, this clash of camp and (somewhat) serious artistry alchemises into something undeniably entertaining (even if there will be inevitable pushback against Murphy\u2019s less-than delicate approach to discussions around beauty). Unlikely supporting turns from Meghan Trainor and the almighty Isabella Rossellini feed into this further, as do the flamboyantly vile prosthetics and make-upeffects used throughout. Prepare to be sickened by\u00a0The Beauty\u00a0(and yourself,\u00a0too,\u00a0for enjoying this stupidly fun show in the first place).<\/p>\n

Expanding on earlier themes from Nip\/Tuck, Murphy\u2019s repellent comic-book adaptation is an absolute riot yet lacks the substance of a recent horror film that goes by the exact same name.\u202f<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FBI Agents Cooper Madsen (Evan Peters) and Jordan Bennett (Rebecca Hall) investigate a sexually transmitted virus that transforms…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":258813,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[93,61,60,270],"class_list":{"0":"post-258812","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-movies"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}