Blow Dry
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Movie Reviews of Blow Dry
Movie Review: Great cast and fun movie!
Summary: 4 Stars
This was a fun movie. Alan Rickman was perfect in the role and it was a great setting for alight comedy. It gets a bit silly in parts but overall it's fun and touching.Movie Review: Aaah, Alan Rickman
Summary: 4 Stars
What a great movie. What a cast. They all worked so well together. Of course Alan Rickman can do no wrong in my mind. Buy it. You'll love it.Movie Review: Hair for a Day
Summary: 3 Stars
Director Paddy Breathnach does a good job making "Blow Dry" look good. After an initial Irish production called "Asila" in 1994 & an Irish road picture in 1997 called "I Went Down," he gets an excellent veteran cast. Josh Hartnett plays Brian and is featured prominently on the DVD cover. With his film roots in "The Faculty," "Town & Country" with Warren Beatty & Diane Keaton, Sophia Coppola's "The Virgin Suicides," he's increasingly played in big pictures like "Pearl Harbor," "Hollywood Homocide," "Wicker Park" & "Sin City." In this film, he plays the son of legendary hairdressers and gets involved in the national hairdressing competition. His accent sounds like he studied it a few weeks before shooting; and Paddy might have opted to having had him return from years in America and then speak with his own Minnesota accent. But he falls in love with Christina played by Rachel Leigh Cook, also from Minnesota; so they are a bit of a matched pair as far as trying accents that are just a bit beyond them. Cook was memorable as the young Holly Hunter in "Living Out Loud" and in "29 Palms" & "Stateside." Natasha Richardson plays the mother Shelley who became a lesbian right before the national championships a decade ago and now suffers from a terminal cancer & wants her family to heal a bit before she dies. Richardson is the daughter of Vanessa Redgrave and played the socialite in "Maid In Manhattan" whose coat Jennifer Lopez steals. She also produced & acted in "Asylum." She does seem anxious about her bad chemo hair and reaches levels of grief, but her energy remains high as she tries to enlist the aid of her ex-husband. Alan Rickman plays said ex Phil with a haughty disdain for the woman who injured his pride. There doesn't seem to be much love between the father & son, which made the dynamics of the picture a bit hard to buy. Rickman won the British Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" and went on to play the bad guy for Bruce Willis in "Die Hard" and as Snape in the Harry Potter movies (Sorcerer's Stone, Chamber of Secrets, Prisoner of Azkaban). He excels at being unlikable and does not seem to mesh here in this ensemble. Shelley's love interest is Sandra played by Rachel Griffiths. Her contest entry has some of the most breathtaking makeup you're likely to see! Australian Griffiths broke through on screen in 1994 in "Muriel's Wedding," got a Best Supporting Actress nomination for "Hilary & Jackie," a Golden Globe for the TV series "Six Feet Under" and appeared with Heath Ledger in "Ned Kelly." She does a convincing job as the caring but self-absorbed lesbian lover. The main hairdressing nemesis Ray is played by Bill Nighy. With a natural deadpan delivery style, it contrasts with the flamboyant unethical hairdresser who will do anything to win the title. Nighy played the fading rocker hilariously in "Love Actually" and has appeared in "The Full Monty," "Underworld," "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" & "The Constant Gardener." I thought he did a great job and was a delight to watch. Simon Beaufoy who got an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay for "The Full Monty" in 1997 does a fairly good job at making this absurdly wacky situation interesting. All in all, this film somehow fails to gel completely, but it is worth seeing if only for the hairstyles and makeup. Enjoy!
Movie Review: Only just luke warm.
Summary: 3 Stars
This film has an excellent premise and plot for a great comedy, particulary as it set in Northern England, that gives it instant license alone to be camp, morose and as dry as sahara sand; in the vein of "Brassed off" and "The Full Monty".
It just doesn't pull it off and is frankly a bit of a mess.
The essential problem is one of over egging the pudding and asking some of the cast to act outside of their capibility; this is certainly true of Natasha Richardson and Bill Nigh, utterly unconvincing as "tough" northern housewife/cancer patient and camp, precious northern male stylist, respectively. Richardson particularly is so weak it's cringe worhty but then why cast one of Redgrave dynasty in a role she could never identify with if she spent the next ten years living in a pit village and blue rinsing old ladies!
The cast is a melting pot of teen American Hearthrobs (though Harnett does well, particularly with his Yorksire accent and is more believable than Richardson as his Mother), Teen Queens, ballsy Australian actresses, well known British TV circuit Northern actors, A whole bunch of lovies from RADA and a few models and comedians thrown in for good measure (Heidi Klum and Peter Kay in same movie is so surreal it needs therapy!)
Essentially everyone's talent is wasted and the whole thing is an untidy missed opportunity. Shame really.
Movie Review: Hair today . . .
Summary: 3 Stars
Actually 3 and a half stars.
Despite a lot of Big Hair, this is not a big movie. Nonetheless, it is an enjoyable romp, with some affecting performances. There is nothing revelatory or even unpredictable about the story, but it works nicely and certainly entertains. The film does have a few rich moments, but seems mostly a vehicle for a group of talented actors (and it is a highly pedigreed bunch here) to take decent material and put out a fun and sometimes very moving film. While it may drag a little in the center, don't give up watching for the finale and Rachel Griffiths "total look" finish that is about as outrageous and breathtaking a "total look" as one can possibly imagine. Alan Rickman sometimes feels a little bit on autopilot, Josh Hartnett is underused, but surprisingly effective in an important role and Natasha Richardson, as ever, glows on the screen and raises the stakes, making the whole thing worthwhile.
Not great, but a good little movie.