Uglies (2024): Ten years too late

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Uglies (2024) caters to those missing the thrill and excitement associated with the dystopian genre.

If you are an avid TikTok watcher or a rare enjoyer of Netflix originals, you have probably seen Uglies (2024) popping up quite a few times over the past weeks. Uglies (2024), starring Joey King, Kieth Powers, and Chase Strokes, takes place in a futuristic dystopia where beauty standards are more directly enforced on teens. We follow Tally YoungBlood, one of the many teens awaiting the beauty procedure mandated on teens’ sixteenth birthday, as she puts her cosmetic surgery on hold to retrieve her missing friend. 

Uglies (2024) is a movie adaptation of the 2005 young adult novel, a fact I was unaware of when watching. I had no idea that other twenty-somethings were also relieving their inner child through the movie’s release; I only tuned in this weekend because the dystopian vibes radiating from the trailer reminded me of many classic dystopian series: The Hunger Games (2012-2023), Maze Runner (2014-2018), Divergent (2014-2016), etc. To see online testimonials from people my age about the nostalgia Uglies (2024) delivered to their doorstep makes me glad that this series has joined the famous—and infamous—world of dystopian movie adaptations. 

My appreciation does not stop there—many positive aspects of this movie are worth mentioning. For starters, the concept of partying and living stress-free every day of your life after sixteen is very appealing to me—I am hopeful to see more of that world in a potential sequel. On a more serious note, the movie is truly a good time. Unlike The Hunger Games franchise, Uglies (2024) is not incredibly nuanced or thought-provoking. You can sit there—a glass in your hand and friends around—and absorb this simple yet stimulating movie with little on your mind. Despite the criticism I have encountered online, I think the acting is acceptable, especially compared to other Netflix originals I have seen—plus, the end was an intriguing scene that left the viewer wanting more. 

If you could not already tell, my bias for this movie is rooted in my thirst for a dystopian film—a genre that has been mostly dry since the 2010s. There were many conventions famous to the dystopian genre that I was excited to re-encounter: Rebellion, oppressive government, surveillance, and that gray-concrete setting. While this movie scratched an itch I did not know I had, I could not help but think through most of it: I would love this so much better if I were twelve. 

Through an objective lens, this movie was questionable. I was not a fan of some of the effects, and the plot was a bit too generic and half-baked. While its low score on rotten tomatoes is not without merit, Uglies (2024) would have thrived during the golden age of dystopia, an era where media was merely successful if it had a group of attractive adult-playing teens and a tyrannical dictator. While The Hunger Games franchise is immortalized and anticipated for another movie in the future, I fear that Uglies is not masterful enough to break barriers and become more than another “overdone dystopian film.” 

You are either one of two people: Someone nostalgic for that feeling your “tweenage-self” had reading/watching the violence and romance in a school-approved book, or one ambivalent to the dystopian genre. Unfortunately, for the latter, I can not say you will get much out of this movie. I would give Uglies (2024) a skip and, instead, follow your friend’s orders when they pressure you to give The Hunger Games franchise a chance. 

For those like me, though, who have been missing a good story that makes us appreciate our questionable society a little bit more, you will have a blast with this film. That is, if you ignore that voice in your head that reminds you that you are enjoying it because of nostalgia and that you are—in fact—an adult wishing they could go back. 

All that aside, I would like to tell my fellow adult dystopian lovers. Gather your friends and have a memorable time with this film. It is anything but boring— one of the most important qualities a film can possess. Enjoy a night of fun and laughs, especially over the similarities between the edited faces in the movie and the bold glamor filter (a popular face-altering filter on TikTok). Uglies (2024) is available on Netflix—if time permits, give it a watch.