Beauty Shop

Has one of the worst-aged first ten seconds in movie history when a radio broadcast praises that “fine-ass Michael Vick.” Lol oops. Otherwise I’d say it’s slightly better than Barbershop 2, not trying to be so serious minded with its antagonist. Too many characters; it’s very crowded for a 100-minute comedy. Not particularly funny but basically harmless. Even the black/white racial dynamics, while more foregrounded than in Barbershop 1 or 2, are lighthearted and not heavy handed or preachy.

Follows much the same irresistible formula of the BARBERSHOP films – take some sparky, charismatic actors and give the audience the chance to hang out with them for a couple of hours. This is great fun, with the winning charisma of Latifah the perfect focal point for the rest of the cast to whirl around, though allowing Woodard to melt into the background is a minor shame; props to Bacon who goes full-bore camp in a role unlike anything he has attempted before. Light and breezy entertainment.

Just not funny, terrible writing. It's hard to write a good movie. But this isn't even laughably bad. It takes zero chances. Completely safe. It's all sort of the way normal people talk, but exaggerated like a bunch of Ritalin'd theatre kids pretending to be office workers around the proverbial watercooler. The soundtrack signals when we should laugh or feel, and it feels oppressive like a police state, compelling you to feign some emotional response to painfully dull, empty, shallow material.

It certainly doesn't go away in Beauty Shop. The tension between whites and blacks is thick and obvious. And it's never resolved. Maybe it's OK not to resolve such a heavy subject in a comedy, but it doesn't seem fair to me that the very elements that Beauty Shop makes a point of frowning upon--racism, the denigration of women, stereotypical judgments, etc.--are the very things it uses to draw laughs, sometimes in a extremely vicious and crass manner. (pluggedin.com)

2

"About as fresh as a Jeri Curl." - Nick Schager

Granted, I only saw the TV edit. But it kind of sucks.

Oh my word.

don't know how I ended up watching this movie.... ohhh queen latifa, why do people give you work?

Doesn't have an original bone in its body, but the fiery ensemble works hard to keep it afloat. Queen Latifah has charisma in spades. Someone find her a dramatic lead role NOW.