Plastic faces in Hollywood make me sad

On Monday night's season-opener of "Everybody Loves Raymond," Ray's parents announced they were moving to a retirement community.

In explaining their decision, Ray's father, Frank (Peter Boyle), who is in his late 60s or early 70s, said he was surprised that he liked the place, adding, "I generally don't care for the elderly."

It got a big laugh — including from me. But then I began to think about it.

In theatrical films, a recent trend that gets either a laugh or a gasp — or both — is to show an aging person, or part of an aging person, naked.

Kathy Bates doffing her robe to enter a hot tub in "About Schmidt," Diane Keaton accidentally being caught in her birthday suit by Jack Nicholson in "Something's Gotta Give," Nicholson's backside being revealed in a hospital scene in the same film, or, more recently, veteran character actress Eileen Atkins in "Vanity Fair," revealing her rear end as she slips out of a bathtub and into a robe.

Then there's that longtime sterotype-buster that is all too often used in far too many low comedies — the sweet-looking little old lady who cuts loose with a cuss word, or perhaps a string of cuss words.

No wonder actors — and especially actresses — in Hollywood have a fear of getting older.

And no wonder we're seeing more and more of them turn to plastic surgery.

It's an old . . . so to speak . . . Hollywood problem. You hit 40, and it's all downhill. But I can't remember ever seeing so many Hollywood facelifts gone wrong.

There was a time when you might chuckle at seeing an older actor trying to look younger by obviously dying his hair or by wearing a bad toupee — or worse, a bad comb-over.

Or an older actress attempting to regain her youth by bloating her lips with collagen or wearing a stiff wig.

But that was nothing. These days, there's something really wrong with the way some of them look.

Even that odd plastic-looking sheen on the sides of their faces, making it difficult for them to smile or move their lips, is nothing compared to what we see now.

Joan Rivers, anyone?

She looks like she's wearing a bad Joan Rivers mask.

But at least she still . . . albeit vaguely . . . resembles her former self.