Beauty Shop Movie Review:


With its top-heavy cast of comedians such as Queen Latifah, Sherri Shepherd and Golden Brooks, it’s no surprise that “Beauty Shop” unfolds with bowls of laughter. What will delight moviegoers even more, however, is that in addition to fun, the movie displays heart, charm and good motivations.

Director Bille Woodruff builds on the theme of a good time in the hood from previous films, “Barbershop” and “Barbershop 2,” which starred Queen Latifah. In “Beauty Shop,” Latifah not only has a producing credit, but again plays stylist Gina Norris.

Gina has left Chicago to start a new life in Atlanta where her daughter Vanessa (Paige Hurd) will attend a prestigious music school. Gina lands a job in a posh salon owned by Jorge, played flamboyantly by Kevin Bacon. When Jorge gets a little too demanding of his girls, Gina in particular, she quits. “Gina can go toe-to-toe with the best of them and take a punch – but she can give one, too,” explained Latifah about her character. “That’s what motivates her to keep moving.”

Although Gina is upset because she won’t be able to afford Vanessa’s school, friends finally convince her she should open her own salon. Following their advice, she buys a rundown shop and spruces it up with the help of friends and Joe (Djimon Hounsou), the good-looking electrician who lives upstairs and just happens to play the piano. Hounsou, a quiet soul whose characters exhibited super strength in “Gladiator” and “Amistad, “ won an Oscar nomination for his role in last year’s “In America.” It’s nice to see him stretch his talents as Gina’s love interest, a sincere and humble man.

“Beauty Shop” taps into a wonderful camaraderie of women. The white women like Lynn (Alicia Silverstone), a shampoo girl who leaves Jorge’s to work for Gina, and Terri (Andie MacDowell) and Joanne (Mena Suvari), two former customers of Jorge’s, get along completely with the shop girls from the hood, Chanel (Golden Brooks) and Ida (Sherri Shepherd).

Silverstone is absolutely perfect as the county bumpkin trying to fit in with a bunch of hood girls, and the more she tries, the harder they laugh. Silverstone said, “She was like, ‘This sucks. They don’t like me, but they don’t know me.’ I like that as they get to know her, they like her better.”

MacDowell is equally amusing as a patron who follows Gina because she’s the only one who can tame her hair. A little intimidated to visit the shop at first, Terri is soon right at home with the girls and picks up some good tips from them about her constantly absent husband. For one hysterical scene about a vendor who sells monkey bread, MacDowell brought her own take on it to the film. “I’m from the South, and I grew up eating soul food,” she said. “I love greens. Actually, the “butt thing” was my idea. Sometimes it’s the little things… I had a small part so it was great that they liked my idea.”

Suvari nails the superficial Joanne, an uppity suburban woman who likes the way Gina cuts her hair and tries to fit in with the shoptalk, but just doesn’t get it. Things escalate between her and Lynn, because Joanne has her eyes on Lynn’s man and fellow salon stylist James (Bryce Wilson.)

When Gina adds her own changes to the shop, she meets with some resistance from the girls, but behind her all the way is Miss Josephine (Alfre Woodard), a feminist who spouts Maya Angelou poetry and believes in women going after their dreams.

The wonderful cast also includes Keshia Knight Pulliam as Gina’s devilish sister-in-law as well as Lil’ JJ, who is topnotch as Willie, a young kid enamored by the women in the shop.

“Beauty Shop” has it all -- great performances, an empowering story and tons of laughs.



Diana Saenger

While this Barbershop spin-off is rather clunky and unfunny, its cast has enough personality to make it surprisingly entertaining. If you can overlook some slightly offensive stereotyping and stick out an overlong running time.

After her husband's death, Gina (Latifah) moves to Atlanta with her daughter (Hurd) and gets a job with shi-shi stylist Jorge (Bacon), who treats everyone like scum. Eventually, there's an ego explosion and Gina's out on her own, buying a run-down beauty shop and building a loyal staff (black-wannabe Silverstone, earth-mother Woodward, hunky Wilson, spiky Brooks, party girl Pulliam) and customer base (MacDowell, Suvari, Reese). But her troubles with Jorge aren't quite over yet.

There are the bare bones of a strong comedy here, but the film feels like it was run through the Hollywood strainer, adding contrived plot points, cliched characters and a brightly professional sheen. At least the cast inject enough raw talent and charm to keep us watching. Latifah is relaxed and sparky, leading her lively ensemble effortlessly, while Hounsou and Wilson fill the sexy-but-talented male roles and Silverstone is the dumb white girl with a heart of gold. Everyone else is good too, but they're mostly just confirming every black stereotype imaginable, most glaringly Woodward's over-the-top motherland obsession (let's quote Maya Angelou again!). Amid all this goofiness, Bacon steals the film with his sourpuss Eurotrash routine. He's the only funny thing in the film--possibly because he's the only person who never smiles.

Basically, the film consists of a lot of beautician chatter and Jerry Springer attitude, offering bad advice for everyone else's problems. It's sassy and silly and corny, but rarely funny. And as it drags on we keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. Woodruff (Honey) directs the film like he has ADD--lurching from blues to rap, innercity grit to sappy romance, leaving story threads dangling everywhere while padding it out through unnecessary sequences that only delay the inevitable moment when the plot kicks in. It's not an awful film, but it could have been much better than this if the filmmakers had held onto its soul.

Rich Cline

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