Beauty Shop
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Movie Reviews of Beauty Shop
Movie Review: I liked it.
Summary: 3 Stars
Typical Latifah vehicle but still fun to watch Bille Woodruff's vehicle starring Queen Latifah is the same Latifah movie vehicle you see with the typical stereotypes,but overall I liked it, I got to admit.
Gina is the hairstylist starting her own beauty shop, enter her racist and inept former boss, Jorge comes back to wreak havoc on Gina's shop because he tried to steal her credit for her work and she left him.
Theres a nice storyline with Gina and her young daughter whose taking music lessons to get to a special school was lovely.
Critics who panned this movie dont know anything I guess theyre not expecting a mulitcultural audience to think about some of the ideas and realiies in the movie. The world is racist,
its still a white man's world in some parts. Gina has her shop destroyed because Jorge cant stand her success.
There's a white girl Lynn (Alicia Silverstone) who wants to be black, whats the harm in that? I like rap music, that doesnt make black but certainly it shows that I love some of things the black culture has shared with our very narrowminded society. Yes Lynn's character is dumb and ditzy to some but I took her as just being happy go lucky.
I thought Queen Latifah's acting was pretty good, always believable, even though shes rich and all ,she still knows how to portray a ghetto character trying to make ends meat.
I really loved Andie MacDowell's character as Terri, a woman who opens up and joins the beauty shop as a regular customer.
Mena Suvari steals the show though as overbearing rich (...) of a client, Joanne who basically thinks the world is hers and everyone should obey her orders, if you dont you die.
Here's actually part of the give and take of the strong where snobby critics fail to mention. Since Joanne is a rich client obviously she can make or break Gina, knowing this she abuses her with insults and still expects her to service her.
This is like the whole master /slave thing that still apparent today or at another level the division between two classes, the rich and the poor, who still exploit their disadvantages.
Eventually Gina has to make a decision become the source of abuse for this rich white client or does she tell her to go to hell and pay the price.
I really loved Queen Latifah in this movie, I think a lot of these roles really shine a like as whats it like in the Urban City when you have many people seeing your poor and working
hard to make a living basically beat you down and try to keep you there just because
they can.
Someone said Kevin Bacon was great but I thought he was crap, he just played some arrogant jerk of a person who like Joanne doesnt care who he hurts as long as they get what they want in the end.
I am glad he gets his just due.
Anyhow I give this movie a good thumbs up.
Movie Review: Light-weight and superficial - yet funny enough to get by with it
Summary: 3 Stars
If you examine this movie with a critical eye, you'll find a pretty lightweight, formulaic plot, a lot of superficial characters, and more than one questionable performance - but the critical eye cannot gauge the comedic beauty shop atmosphere or quantify the aura Queen Latifah exudes over the whole movie. There are ample doses of humor spread throughout the entire film, and thus Beauty Shop succeeds fairly well - albeit unevenly - as a comedy. I actually watched this film because Mena Suvari is in it, and I just have to say: Mena, the magic is gone. What in the world happened to bring Mena down to the level (nay, below the level) of Alicia Silverstone?
The story's pretty simple. Gina (Queen Latifah) is a hairstylist for the fabulous Jorge - until he pushes her past her breaking point and she makes a few references to certain posterior body parts and leaves. Let's just stop and talk about Jorge. Just when I was beginning to take Kevin Bacon seriously as an actor, he shows up in what has to be the most excruciatingly embarrassing role I've encountered in years. Anyway, Gina decides to open her own shop. It's rough going early on, but she and a bevy of outspoken women soon turn her dream into a reality. Oh, there are more problems later on, of course, but it doesn't take her (and her hair crack conditioner) very long to start stealing some of Jorge's best customers away from him. This is where Mena Suvari and Andie MacDowell come in - I don't think either one will want to put these roles anywhere near the top of their acting resumes. Mena is particularly disappointing, and it didn't help her or the story when her character suddenly underwent a complete personality change for seemingly no reason whatsoever toward the end. Then there's Alicia Silverstone; I don't know if she can possibly come back from this performance. She's the white girl trying to fit in with her black co-workers, and her performance just gets more and more painful to watch as time passes (and what is with that terrible Southern accent?). The performance of Little JJ as a little playa on constant booty patrol will help get you past the bad parts, though - he's hilarious.
Naturally, there's a little romance thrown in the mix, but you'll spend more time trying to make Darnelle look like the Keshia Knight Pulliam you remember from The Cosby Show than worrying about whether Gina can make a love connection with the electrician living above the boutique. I know I haven't said a lot of good things about the movie, but most of the good things come from the interaction of the outspoken women inside the beauty shop. There are some real characters in that bunch, and they do keep the comedy flowing. Basically, Beauty Shop is an average movie with a slightly better than average level of comedy.
Movie Review: Cute and funny but nothing new or original...
Summary: 3 Stars
I absolutely love Queen Latifah. She makes any movie worth watching in my humble opinion. It's a shame that Latifah aside `Beauty Shop' is rather dull. It's not that it doesn't bring the funny; it's just that it's all funny we've seen many times before. I understand that it's harder and harder these days to find an original concept for anything, but really, watching `Beauty Shop' is like major deja vu. I've seen this done almost word for word before, I swear it.
The story revolves around Gina, a hairstylist who's fed up with working for the man (that man being the snobbish Jorge). Gina decides it's time to take her talent to the next level and open her own salon. Jorge of course doesn't like this much and begins working to shut her down. Things are difficult, being a single mother and all but she has the support of her friends and this gives her strength to push through. In the meantime Gina is given a huge opportunity when her own conditioner recipe (would it be called that?) is brought to a big wig corporation by a wealthy client. Things look to be going up for Gina, but will they stay up?
Latifah is funny as Gina. I just love her to death and she always creates the most likable characters. Even if her movies are all B-Grade at best (`Chicago' and 'Set it Off' aside) she always makes the experience worth it. The real standout here though is Kevin Bacon who is obviously overjoyed to be hamming it up as Jorge. His blonde locks and wispy attitude is just such a huge departure for him it's hilarious to see. I don't normally like Bacon but he had me in stitches. Alicia Silverstone also makes her return to the screen here, but her impression is less than impressive. Her accent is obnoxious and I found myself wishing she would get off the screen.
The cast is huge here with names like Andie MacDowell, Mena Suvari, Alfre Woodard and Djimon Hounsou showing up every now and then. Everyone does a decent job with what they are given and they all seem to work well with one another, feeding off the others energy.
As far as comedies go this one is funny, it's just very unoriginal. It doesn't mean that you can't find enjoyment out of this one since the laughs are there, just know that you'll have laughed at these gags before. If you're a fan of Latifah or anyone else in the cast then by all means check this one out. I have yet to see either of the `Barbershop' movies but I really need too since I hear they are a laugh riot. I'm sure they are better than this film as far as plot goes.
Movie Review: Queen Latifah Fights Back Against the Establishment
Summary: 3 Stars
Most everyone has had a job where they didn't get along very well with the person in charge. Most of us just grin and bear it, knowing that we need the job if we want to put food on the table. But others take a stand by telling the boss to take the job and shove it. This is the setting for this move, "Beauty Shop", a film starring Queen Latifah.
The plot and dialogue of this movie are rather bland and most viewers will agree there is nothing exceptional to be seen or heard in this movie. There are some funny moments, but the dialogue is, for the most part, very simple and lacking in sophistication. So is the basic plot, which follows a thirty- something woman on her journey from unappreciated hair stylist for an egocentric boss to owner of her own hair styling salon.
There is one exception to the "ordinary" aspect of this film, and that person is actor Kevin Bacon. He plays the eccentric Jorge- the guy who owns the beauty shop where Queen Latifah is originally employed. Bacon's character is an oddball and the role isn't like any other he has played. I did a double take when I first saw him in this film. I couldn't believe it was Kevin Bacon in such a weird role (for him, that is). Here he is playing this conceited, long- haired guy with an Eastern European accent. The character is too bizarre to be real, but Bacon does grab your attention with this performance, if nothing else because the character is so different for him.
Queen Latifah is the other standout in this film, even though it doesn't rank among her best acting efforts. The other cast members are ok, but no one is exceptional. The only people who I believe are good and could have been better are Paige Hurd (plays Latifah's young daughter) and Djimon Hounsou (plays Latifah's love interest). Their problem in this movie is that their respective roles are too limited. They don't really get the chance to say very much or perform very much.
This movie doesn't have much of a message except, perhaps, that things can be achieved with determination and a little help from one's friends. Then why do I recommend seeing it? That is a good question, and one I am not fully prepared to answer. This film isn't very memorable at all and it's the type of movie I would usually recommend against wasting one's money on renting. But Queen Latifah's strong personality and the overall charm of the film make it one worth watching.
Movie Review: Can 3 Stars
Ya'll know I love supporting African American's. I mean without us supporting our own where would we be?Gina Norris (Queen Latifah) formerly of Chi-town is now a widower. Back to the ATL to live with the in-laws Gina is working in an upscale salon as a beautician with hopes of someday owning her own. She seems to give the opulent clientele what they need in the form of advice, and self love.
Gina's flippant mouth has to be tamed as she bites her tongue for her over processed boss Jorge (Kevin Bacon) While trying to do Jorge's job Gina gives Lynn (Alicia Silverstone) her chance to show that she's more than a shampoo girl.
NEVER GON' GET IT! Jorge says as he let's Gina walk out the door. He hasn't weighed the fact that his repeat business is based on the quality she puts in.
Gina is now more determined that if I want it, then I have to do it!
What year is it exactly? Gina and her in-laws Paulette (Laura Hayes) and Darnell (Keshia Knight Pulliam) ask as they enter the shop that Gina purchased in the heart of the city. She also inherits a piano player/electrician Joe (Djimon Hounsou) who seems to electrify a lot more.
FIRST DAY...Gina introduces herself to the ready made staff, and tells them the rules. Before things can completely involve Lynn walks in and two of the would be stylist blow their tops and the unnecessary divas dismiss themselves. Ms. Josephine (Alfrie Woodard) is a pro Black queen who quotes P-H-E-N-O-M-E-N-A-L poems that make the shop rise in U-N-I-T-Y which makes the transition somewhat smoother although Lynn is still a little uncomfortable.
People always bagging on sistas about ATTITUDE...we come equipped with "tude! It comes with being saddled with raising our kids, striving to get ahead, and just maintaining when everyone seems to beat you down!
Gina Nelson's story is a feat for women who are trying to do something more than settle! It's a hard knock life for all of us out here! Stay strong sister's...