Beauty Shop
| Beauty Shop | |
|---|---|
 Promotional release poster | |
| Directed by | Bille Woodruff |
| Screenplay by | Kate Lanier Norman Vance, Jr. |
| Story by | Elizabeth Hunter |
| Produced by | David Hoberman Robert Teitel George Tillman, Jr. Queen Latifah Shakim Compere |
| Starring | Queen Latifah Alicia Silverstone Andie MacDowell Alfre Woodard Mena Suvari Lil' JJ Adele Givens Kevin Bacon Djimon Hounsou |
| Cinematography | Theo van de Sande |
| Edited by | Michael Jablow |
| Music by | Christopher Young |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 105 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $37,245,453[1] |
Beauty Shop is a 2005 American comedy film directed by Bille Woodruff. The film serves as both a third installment and a spin-off of the Barbershop film franchise, and stars Queen Latifah as Gina, a character first introduced in the 2004 film Barbershop 2: Back in Business. This film also stars Alicia Silverstone, Andie MacDowell, Mena Suvari, Kevin Bacon and Djimon Hounsou.
Plot
Gina Norris is a widowed hairstylist who has moved from Chicago to Atlanta so her daughter, Vanessa, can attend a private music school. She's made a name for herself as a stylist, but after her self-centered boss, Jorge, criticizes her decisions, she leaves and sets up her own shop, purchasing a run-down salon by the skin of her teeth by helping out a loan officer.
Upon buying the salon, she runs into instant barriers: loudmouthed young stylists, older clients who are set in their ways, people wary of her ability as a hairdresser and the constant trouble her rebellious sister-in-law, Darnelle, finds herself in. In a short time, the previous owner's clients become her own and many of her former customers find their way from Jorge's to her salon. When electrical issues arise, she finds that the upstairs renter, Joe is a handsome electrician from Africa who eventually bonds with Vanessa due to his skills on the piano. Because Jorge is jealous that his shop is losing clients to Gina's, he pays a health inspector named Crawford, to find various ways to shut down Gina's business.
Over time, neighborhood regulars frequent the shop and the varied stylists become close to Gina, as does Joe. One of her former clients from Jorge's even uses her connections to set up a meeting with Cover Girl for Gina's homemade miracle conditioner, affectionately called "hair crack".
Tragedy strikes when the shop is trashed and heavily vandalized the night before Vanessa's big piano recital. When Gina next enters the shop, she finds not only that her staff has cleaned up the majority of the mess and brought items from home so the shop could operate, but that Darnelle has entered beauty school. While filming for his next topic, Willie tapes a meeting between Jorge and Inspector Crawford. Shortly, a disheveled woman enters the shop and begs for someone to fix her hair for a wedding she has in a few hours. Soon after, Willie shows Gina the videotape of a meeting he filmed of Jorge and Inspector Crawford. Later that night, Gina goes to Jorge's salon to not only tell him about the tape, but that she knows he is not Jorge from Austria, but George Christie from Nebraska. No sooner that Gina leaves, James and a few of his friends gives Jorge an extreme haircut as payback for what he did to her in trying to close her shop. Bitches be like yeah
Later, as the shop listens to their favorite radio talk show host DJ Helen, they find out she was the desperate customer on the way to the wedding as she gives the shop (and Gina's "hair crack" conditioner) a shout out on the radio.
Cast
- Queen Latifah as Gina Norris
- Alicia Silverstone as Lynn
- Andie MacDowell as Terri
- Alfre Woodard as Ms. Josephine
- Mena Suvari as Joanne Marcus
- Lil' JJ as Willie
- Adele Givens as DJ Helen
- Kevin Bacon as Jorge
- Djimon Hounsou as Joe
- Bryce Wilson as James
- Crystal Garrett as Woman
- Della Reese as Mrs. Towner
- Golden Brooks as Chanell
- Jim Holmes as Inspector Crawford
- Joyful Drake as Mercedes
- Tawny Dahl as Porsche
- Keshia Knight Pulliam as Darnelle
- Laura Hayes as Paulette
- Octavia Spencer as Big Customer
- Paige Hurd as Vanessa Norris, Gina's daughter.
- Reagan Gomez-Preston as Woman
- Sherri Shepherd as Ida
- Sheryl Underwood as Catfish Rita
- Cameo appearances
- Brian "Baby" Williams as Glen
- Ki Toy Johnson as Neighborhood Girl
- Kimora Lee Simmons as Denise
- LisaRaye McCoy as Rochelle
- Wilmer Valderrama as Corky, Jorge's lover.
Reception
Reviews for the film were mixed; it earned a 39% rating on Rotten Tomatoes from the users, and a higher 54% from the critics, with the consensus being that the film itself was not the equal of Queen Latifah's strong performance.[2] Allmovie gave the film 3/5 stars, with reviewer Derek Armstrong saying that while the film sticks to the same formula which made the Barbershop films so successful, it still "bursts with life, having attracted a spectrum of enthusiastic performers and a script that exceeds broad character types."[3] At Metacritic, the film has averaged a 53 rating from critics, and an almost identical 5.4/10 rating from users.[4] The best reviews for the film have come from Yahoo! Movies, where the critics have given the film a B- average, and users helped it to earn a B+.[5]
Awards & nominations
2005 BET Comedy Awards
- Outstanding Directing for a Theatrical Film — Bille Woodruff (nominated)
- Outstanding Lead Actress in a Theatrical Film — Queen Latifah (nominated)
- Outstanding Theatrical Film (nominated)
- Outstanding Writing for a Theatrical Film — Audrey Wells, Kate Lanier, Norman Vance Jr. (nominated)
2005 Black Movie Awards
- Outstanding Achievement in Writing — Kate Lanier, Norman Vance Jr. (nominated)
- Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role — Queen Latifah (nominated)
- Choice Movie Actress: Comedy — Queen Latifah (nominated)
- Choice Movie Hissy Fit — Queen Latifah (nominated)
- Choice Movie Sleazebag — Kevin Bacon (nominated)
- Choice Rap Artist in a Movie — Queen Latifah (nominated)
- Best Actress — Queen Latifah (nominated)
- Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture — Queen Latifah (nominated)
References
- ^ "Beauty Shop (2005)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved February 5, 2010.
- ^ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/beauty_shop, Rotten Tomatoes
- ^ http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=1:302684~T1, Allmovie Review
- ^ http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/beautyshop?q=Beauty%20Shop, Metacritic
- ^ http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1808543769/info, Yahoo! Movies