JENELLE JANCI | Staff WriterTheatergoers at some screenings of the newly released “Mean Girls” musical movie will see a 2020 Penn Manor High School graduate on the big screen.
Trevor Barrett, a makeup artist who grew up in Millersville, plays a teen in “Cosmetic Criminals,” an elaborate advertisement for e.l.f. Cosmetics in the form of a mock-documentary.
The 14-minute film made its theatrical debut before “Mean Girls” screenings at select AMC Theaters on Friday, Jan. 12. It’s also available to watch on YouTube and Amazon Freevee.
“Cosmetic Criminals” is the lengthiest branded content ever to run on the big screen, according to advertising company National CineMedia.
The short film also stars Emmy Award winner Niecy Nash-Betts (“The Rookie: Feds,” “Never Have I Ever,” “Reno 911!”), Nelson Franklin (“Veep,” “New Girl”) and Necar Zadegan, an actress best known for her Broadway performance alongside Robin Williams in “Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo.”
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The 14-minute film presents a highly dramatic story of cosmetic products disappearing. One teen, Olivia, even attempted to delay her own “promposal” after her makeup went missing.
During the local authorities’ investigation of the missing products, a towel was found with a face-full of makeup on it —a face that matched the face of Barrett, who plays Zayden, the boyfriend-not-boyfriend of Olivia’s sister, Charlotte. Much like the real-life Barrett, Zayden has an online following for his makeup tutorials.
The detective notes that Zayden is “known to wear a ‘full beat,’” before translating that to non-Internet-speak: “a lot of makeup.”
Even Olivia couldn’t hate on Zayden’s makeup skills. “I get it,” the character says. “His looks slay. He’s very talented.”
As Zayden, Barrett talks at length about makeup to the local detective, even walking him through the ins and outs of contouring.
Eventually, the case handed over to the federal authorities. Nash plays the F.B.I. agent assigned to investigate.
We’ll leave the big reveal as a surprise, but there’s a pretty great redemptive arc for Barrett’s character.
Barrett has built an impressive social media following for his makeup artistry, with 984,000 TikTok followers and 671,000 Instagram followers.
The role is the latest in a series of career highlights — makeup pun intended — for Barrett. Last summer, he debuted a collaboration makeup collection with Dose of Colors. And in 2020, he was featured in a campaign for Lady Gaga's cosmetics line, Haus Laboratories.
Watch "Cosmetic Criminals" via YouTube below.
