Beanie Feldstein commands attention in kiss-covered dress at Impeachment: American Crime Story debut

She’s playing one of the most notorious names of the 90s.

And all eyes were on Beanie Feldstein, 28,as she graced the red carpet premiere of her show Impeachment: American Crime Story at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood on Wednesday. 

The leading lady, who plays Monica Lewinsky in the Ryan Murphy series about Bill Clinton‘s 1998 impeachment, nodded to the scandal by donning a figure-hugging pink and red dress covered with kisses.

And also at the premiere was the real-life Lewinsky, 48, who looked chic as can be in a red, pink and blue dress. 

The star looked stunning in the pink and red sundress, which featured a square necklace and flowy skirt. 

Matching her frock, she donned ruby red silk sandals with a platform heel. Delicate earrings and a diamond pinky ring gave the look another level of elegance.

Beanie went for All American girl glamour with her hair and makeup, styling her warm brown tresses to one side while playing up her features with peachy rouge and shimmering eyeshadow.

After soaking in the spotlight solo, the starlet saddled up to a glowing Lewinsky, who served as a producer on the 10-episode anthology.

The intern-turned-activist was full of poise, flashing a pearly smile while posing for the cameras. Her geometric dress had a hint of sparkle, giving it the perfect touch of red carpet opulence.

Adding a wild note with footwear, she sported leopard-print heels with chains around the ankles.

Sarah Paulson, who plays Lewinsky’s confidante-turned-snitch Linda Tripp in the series, was simply dazzling at the event, stepping onto the scene in a longsleeve dress with fierce shoulder pads and completely covered in rhinestones. 

The star, 46, went classic with her accessories, opting for black sandals and an envelope clutch. Showing some of her signature edge, she wore her hair in kinky blonde waves with dark roots.

Looking sharp as ever was Clive Owen, who plays President Clinton in the series. 

The Englishman, 56, went with a double-breasted suit in a blue and black plaid. Keeping with the polished, blue theme, he added a light shirt and silk tie to match.

Billy Eichner, the actor behind conservative muckraker Matt Drudge, was summery in a blue blazer with crisp white pants and a patterned polo.

Colin Hanks, who plays Office of Independent Counsel prosecutor/Clinton antagonist Michael Emmick, went with a more casual look, teaming a dark suit with a black shirt unbuttoned to show a bit of chest.

Cobie Smulders, who plays conservative pundit Ann Coulter, rocked a crisp white suit contrasted with a black top and matching accessories. 

Annaleigh Ashford, who plays Clinton accuser Paula Jones, was all about drama in a flouncy green and magenta frock.

Though the buzz around Impeachment is big, so far the series has divided critics almost as much as the original scandal divided the American public.

The self-contained season, the third from the American Horror Story veterans Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, left several television observers cold despite its sometimes overheated depictions of the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal that led to the impeachment of the former president.

Even among the naysayers, Paulson and Feldstein both received strong reviews for their portrayals of Linda Tripp and Monica Lewinsky.

Among those giving Impeachment a thumbs down, The Hollywood Reporter‘s Angie Han saluted its picture-perfect production design and its ‘physically transfigured’ cast, but complained that it’s unclear ‘what all this effort is for.’

‘Even as the season zeroes in on the finer details of the story (drawing primarily from Jeffrey Toobin’s book A Vast Conspiracy), it struggles to locate a larger point worthy of the time it takes to convey it,’ she wrote.

Han also complained that the season ‘feels oddly static’ despite its charged subject matter.

Critics were provided seven of Impeachment’s 10 episodes, but she argued that the first three episodes diluted the season’s impact by spreading the narrative too thinly among a huge cast of thinly drawn characters.

For Time, Judy Berman wrote that Impeachment ‘struggles’ with the question of ‘what is there to say about it that hasn’t been said before?’

She argued that the series tries to reframe the scandal, in which President Bill Clinton was impeached in 1998 for lying under oath about sexual relations he had with White House intern Monica Lewinsky starting in 1995, by focusing on the women affected, rather than the men in power.

‘If there’s a point to this exercise, it gets lost amid so many histrionic reenactments of scenes we’ve seen replayed on the news and parodied in late-night comedy for more than two decades,’ Berman wrote.

Although she praised the ‘preternaturally effervescent’ Feldstein as Lewinksy, she added faint praise for Paulson as Tripp, who ‘isn’t exactly bad.’

Clive Owen was called out for looking nothing like Clinton even with extensive prosthetics, though his performance was praised for departing from stereotypical portraits of the president, while she wrote that Edie Falco was ‘egregiously miscast’ as Hillary Clinton. 

Caroline Framke of Variety criticized Impeachment’s attempts to get the mid-1990s look correct by saying the show ‘feels like taking a trip to the uncanny valley rather than the recent past.’

She added that the season takes itself ‘too seriously to be camp, but not seriously enough to avoid some of TV’s most obvious traps,’ and argued that many of the characters are depicted as ‘the most obvious versions of themselves.’

IndieWire‘s Ben Travers claimed that Impeachment was ’empty’ and ‘obsessed with its own recreation.’

He applauded its attempts to ‘better appreciat[e] America’s past abuses of power’ but added that it was ‘far more beguiled by the trappings of history (the hug, the dress, the tapes) than excavating telling angles for today.’

Among those with more positive assessments, Entertainment Weekly‘s Kristen Baldwin applauded Impeachment for not being a ‘post-#MeToo hagiography of two notoriously wronged women.’

She praised Feldstein for portraying Lewinsky with ‘the reckless bravado of a young adult both emboldened by and crushed under the weight of an overwhelming infatuation.’

While others criticized Paulson use of a fat suit and extensive prosthetics to look like Tripp, Baldwin thought she got to the core of the character.

‘Buried under a layered blonde wig and an oddly-controversial fat suit, the actress reveals the complex frailties and contradictions fueling so many of Tripp’s decisions,’ she declared.

CNN‘s Brian Lowry called Impeachment ‘engrossing’ and ‘undeniably juicy.’

He wrote that Paulson’s Tripp ‘steals the show,’ and he said that she had ‘created another indelible character.’

Impeachment: American Crime Story premieres on FX on Tuesday, September 7 at 10 p.m. ET.

Source: Daily Mail