Beauty Shop (DVD, 2009, Spa Cash)

This movie had promise – it came from the same line as Barbershop, the storyline was eerily similar to Bringing Down the House, and the cast was unexpectedly strong: Queen Latifah, Alicia Silverstone, Andie MacDowell, Alfre Woodard, Mena Suvari, Della Reese, and a very funny Kevin Bacon. But the movie got lost in its own clichés and poor writing – giving neither the actor’s or the writer’s the power to carry the movie. Instead, the result was a bland, slow-moving movie that chronicled the struggles and successes of Queen Latifah’s start-up beauty shop.

Beauty Shop could have – and should have – been more than a big cliché; but it was unable to break from the traditional storylines. Queen Latifah is a rebellious hair dresser at the hottest salon in town – after being pushed, she quit and decided to follow her heart and open her own salon… predictably in the heart of the ghetto and with a cast of misfit hairdressers. Latifah valiantly leads her team to success – stealing one client at a time… and next thing you know, it’s the hottest spot in town!

You get my point – the movie was too predictable and too uninteresting. Beauty Shop’s greatest asset is its cast – Kevin Bacon is hilarious, Latifah is solid, Andie MacDowell was pleasantly funny, Alicia Siverstone was bizarrely appropriate, and Mean Suvari was decent. In the end, the writing was bad enough that the entire cast was incapable of saving it… unfortunate, because Barbershop was an excellent movie!