Whether you are losing hair because of your significant other's antics, having some "Don King issues" or just want to laugh until your stomach hurts, there is always a chair for you at Beauty Shop.
In this amusing comedy, Gina (Queen Latifah) has relocated from Chicago to Atlanta to earn big money as a master hairstylist in an upscale hair salon, while her daughter Vanessa (Paige Aurd) attends a performing arts school. But Gina's treatment of clients doesn't agree with the hair care methods of her overbearing boss, Jorge Cristophe, played by a Hawaiian-shirt-wearing Kevin Bacon peeking through the stringiest, surfer-dude hair ever to find its way onto the big screen. Twenty minutes into the movie, Gina quits, telling Cristophe to "kiss it," and opens a beauty shop of her own.
Beauty Shop, the female counterpart to Barbershop, provides scene after scene of laughter as Gina struggles to run a successful beauty salon. She acquires a colorful, witty staff that keeps the salon atmosphere fun -- the hair stylists put a humorous spin on topics ranging from plastic surgery to sexuality. In one scene, a discussion about "sexing up" the work uniform sparks an impromptu performance of Maya Angelou's "Still I Rise," complete with choreography.
Racial issues are addressed briefly at the beginning of the film when Gina brings Lynn, Cristophe's former shampoo girl, to work in her salon. As a white girl, Lynn has a hard time fitting into a predominately black beauty salon, but Alicia Silverstone's Southern accent and spunk make Lynn an early audience favorite.
Djimon Hounson's soft portrayal of Joe, Gina's piano-playing love interest, captures the crowd's hearts. Each time Hounson enters a scene, the audience listens for corny, charming dialogue.
Beauty Shop's plot is its weakest link. Somewhere toward the middle of the film, the storyline reaches a standstill as humor overshadows character development. But humor alone is enough to make Beauty Shop as entertaining and loveable as Barbershop.
Celebrity cameos like Kimora Lee Simmons' visit to get her hair done at the shop or rapper Baby's bit part as a rich male friend are surprising and fun, and easily-recognizable actors Della Reese and Wilmer Valderama also play small parts. Audience members old enough to remember The Cosby Show will recognize Keshia Knight Pulliam as Gina's sister-in-law, Darnelle, who gets in more trouble than Rudy in the Huxtable household.
Though the film suffers some weak moments, Queen Latifah proves that both a movie and a salon can be saved by screwball characters and a little bit of "hair crack" conditioner mixed up in the kitchen. And in the end, Beauty Shop, the movie, is as successful as its namesake salon.
Read More
The best albums of 2014
By Noah Zeidman | December 4, 2014Across genres, it has been a pretty great year in music.
Top 10 movies of 2014
December 4, 2014This has been an excellent year for film, offering everything from gripping blockbusters to innovative personal films.
Iggy Azalea is “Reclassified”
December 4, 2014It has become common practice among music artists to repackage their albums in an effort to simultaneously boost single sales and dish out new content by slightly renaming the album or slapping “Deluxe” onto the title.
