The critics are feasting on Billie Woodruff’s Beauty Shop, which opened yesterday, and it ain’t fried fish and collard greens. More like five-day-old leftovers and brick-hard biscuits.
Sure, there are stereotypic characters and semi-flat subplots, like the romance between Gina Norris (Queen Latifah) and an electrician named Joe (Djimon Hounsou), but most movies have these flaws. Beauty Shop should be forgiven, because it achieves what it attempts to do n make you laugh, a lot.
The charismatic screen presence of Queen Latifah is hard to deny. Her portrayal of Gina Morris, a single mother with tremendous ambition but spirit-breaking obstacles, is believable and well-done. She owns this character and does so with quick wit.
An inspiring story of triumph over all-too-common adversity, Beauty Shop is a feel-good movie, not unlike both Barbershop movies, in which we were first introduced to Gina Morris. And, as in both Barbershop movies, the place where hair gets done is more than just that. It is also a place to relax, catch up on gossip, and share support and camaraderie.
In Beauty Shop, Gina moves from Chicago to HOTtlanta so that her daughter Vanessa (Paige Hurd) can attend a prestigious but expensive performing arts school for piano training. To pay the bills, Gina works for an upscale hairstyling salon where the owner, Jorge (Kevin Bacon), undermines her creativity and skills while taking credit for her gifts.
To save her integrity, Gina quits to start her own salon, taking with her country-girl Lynn (Alicia Silverstone), who is a talented hairstylist but was only allowed to shampoo hair at Jorge’s.
Lacking the “three C’s” (credit, collateral, capital), Gina is only able to get a $30,000 loan n just enough to buy a run-down beauty shop that hasn’t had a facelift since the ‘70s. Armed with a broom and some chic paint, she, her mother-in-law (Laura Hayes) and her sister-in-law (Keisha Knight Pulliam) give the place a new look, though her crew of hairstylists initially do not approve of the renovation or their new uniform smocks.
Gina runs the place like a fashionable business, serving cappuccinos to customers. But she struggles with maintaining a client base and other logistics of entrepreneurship. Even when vindictive Jorge tries to keep her down, however, she finds solace and strength from her friends and family.
Touching on various social issues, such as economic gaps, homosexuality, interracial dating, and the contrast between rap and classical music, Beauty Shop follows a culturally-diverse storyline. The jam-packed cast includes Kimora Lee Simmons, Lisa Raye, Andie MacDowell and Mena Suvari, all portraying rich clients. Afro-centric Miss Josephine (Alfre Woodard) keeps the crew empowered with the poetry of Maya Angelou. Metrosexual James (Bryce Wilson) adds sex appeal. Willie, played by Lil’ JJ from BET’s Coming to the Stage, gets laughs with his incessant quest for n ahem n booty.
Inescapably, race is an issue in this film. Beauty Shop dramatizes stereotypic but still funny conflicts between Gina and Jorge and between the ethnically-different stylists and clients. For example, a radio DJ, Helen, discusses how she dealt with a persistent lover. Instead of filing for a restraining order, as a white woman presumably would have done, she went “ghetto on him” by telling him she was pregnant.
This type of humor doesn’t work for everyone. But if you keep an open mind and relax, you might find Beauty Shop a comedy well worth seeing.
