Beauty Shop
Directed by Billie Woodruff

By Peter Knegt

Though popular in television for decades, the "spin-off" has not demonstrated itself in filmmaking until recently. And in an era of movie-making packed with remakes and sequels, isn’t it refreshing to see a relatively rare mode of unoriginality persist? In the wake of last month’s Elektra comes Beauty Shop, a female take on the Barbershop films, with Queen Latifah’s Gina Norris (a minor character from the Barbershop sequel) getting her own show.

Gina makes the move to Atlanta as her daughter (Paige Hurd) is accepted to an arts school there. She gets fed up with her job at the flamboyant Jorge’s (Kevin Bacon seeping to new lows) salon and decides to open her own shop, taking Jorge’s shampoo girl, Lynn (Alicia Silverstone seeping to not-so-new lows), with her.

Though the plot is generic, Beauty Shop does a good job of maintaining the fun and often clever "barber/beauty shop" repartee that made the Barbershop films so enjoyable. However, it lacks the political undertones of those films and also employs a slew of supporting characters (Bacon, Silverstone, Andie McDowell) who have outlandish accents and are way too over-the-top. The real humour comes from Latifah, Sherri Shepard and Alfre Woodard, who put a fresh spin on rather traditional African-American comedy.

Beauty Shop ends up feeling like a slightly more whitewashed carbon copy of the Barbershop films. Those films really nailed the culture of "barbershop" life, and in doing so ignited smart and often hysterical banter, all the while bringing up issues relating to race politics. But Latifah and company have just enough spunk to make Beauty Shop a highly entertaining ode to African-American femininity, just not enough to place it beside its male-oriented counterparts. (MGM)

Nobody Knows - Dir. by Kore-eda Hirokazu
The supremely gentle director of After Life returns with another quiet triumph. Based loosely on a 1988 incident where a young girl died after being abandoned by her parents, it begins with an irresponsible mother named Keiko and her children from several fathers. She hides them in her apartment, refuses to enrol all but one in school and then disappears "to work in Osaka," leaving 12-year-old Akira to act as a surrogate parent. The children maintain at first, spending Keiko’s money when she sends it, but soon the money stops and Akira is left to deal with the matter of finding food and water after the utilities are shut off. ...Read More
Be Cool - Dir. by F. Gary Gray
Born Into Brothels - Dir. by Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman
Clean - Dir. by Oliviere Assayas
Constantine - Dir. by Francis Lawrence
Cursed - Dir. by Wes Craven
Diary Of A Mad Black Woman - Dir. by Darren Grant
Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine - Dir. by Vikram Jayanti
Hostage - Dir. by Florent Siri
Ice Princess - Dir. by Tim Fywell
Imaginary Heroes - Dir. by Dan Harris
Millions - Dir. by Danny Boyle
Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous - Dir. by John Pasquin
Phil the Alien - Dir. by Rob Stefaniuk
Rory O'Shea Was Here - Dir. by Damien O'Donnell
Schultze Gets The Blues - Dir. by Michael Schorr
Steamboy - Dir. by Katsuhiro Otomo
The Boys And Girl Of County Clare - Dir. by John Irvin
The Jacket - Dir. by John Maybury
The Pacifier - Dir. by Adam Shankman
The Ring Two - Dir. by Hideo Nakata
The Upside Of Anger - Dir. by Mike Binder
Up And Down - Dir. by Jan Hrebejk
Walk On Water - Dir. by Eytan Fox
One of this city’s superstar DJs, Misstress Barbara specializes in big beats for the masses, and with her three-piece band Girls on a Ducati, she’s extending her house pop chops to a more traditional live setting. With a guitar and mic, as well as keys and effects, she’s a capable front-woman but he... Full Review
The deliberately lo-fi, yet earnest, split between Transit and Man Overboard sounds like the product of a bunch of friends growing up on punk and hardcore throughout the '90s. The hardcore leanings of Boston fivesome Transit lay the groundwork for the pop punk tendencies of the Jersey kids in Man Ov... Full Review
The term "videogame music" is often intended as an insult, deriding electronic beatscapes as rudimentary by comparing them to the 8-bit by necessity, bleep-based soundtracks of early Atari and Nintendo games. (See: Castles, Crystal) That Super Mario's theme music remains embedded in the frontal lobes of anyone under the age of 40 proves the critical weakness of the diss ― but it's also hopelessly archaic considering how much videogame music has evolved over the years.... Read More
Social Networking
• Be our friend on MySpace
• Be our fan on Facebook
Tweet us on twitter
Viewing the March 2005 Issue: Contents PageNewsClick Hear • Articles --> On the Cover  •  Front Five  •  Points  •  Comics  •  Point of View  •  Questionnaire  •  Research  •  Timeline • Music Reviews --> Recently Reviewed  •  Aggressive Tendencies  •  Beats & Rhymes  •  Destination Out  •  Frequencies  •  Groove  •  Pop Rocks  •  Wood, Wires & Whiskey  •  Concert Reviews  •  SXSW Reviews • Motion Reviews --> Recently Reviewed  •  Dvd Reviews  •  Film Reviews  •  Music DVD Reviews • Music School --> Label Life  •  Meet & Greet  •  Need to Know  •  Where I play Contests • Contact --> About Us  • Advertising  • Distribution  • Getting Reviewed  • Getting Published  • Letters To The Editor  • Partnerships  • Subscriptions • Exclaim! Radio --> Aggressive Tendencies Radio  • Beats & Rhymes Radio  • Frequencies Radio  • Destination Out Radio  • Groove Radio  • No Future Radio  • Pop Rocks Radio  • Wood, Wires & Whiskey Radio Exclaim! TV • Home & Latest Issue Browse Issues