Rating: Summary: Only just luke warm. Review: 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.
Rating: Summary: Look behind the hairspray and see the real beauty. Review: A wife (Natasha Richardson) suddenly leaves her husband (Alan Rickman) and young son (Josh Hartnett) for another woman (Rachel Griffiths). Ten years later, she has cancer and is dying. In an attempt to try up loose ends in her life, Shelley Allen wants to enter a team (herself, her ex, their son, and her lover) in the British National Hairdressing Championships for old time's sake. Winning is optional. Alan Rickman works his magic has the husband who never stopped loving his wife; he's no longer "in love" but she is still importent to him. Natasha Richardson radiates fear as a woman who knows her days are numbered but doesn't know how many she has left. She wants to live her last days in happiness with her family and reuniting this winning styling team may be her only hope to make that happen. The weak link in a chain of strong actors are the Americans, Josh Hartnett and Rachael Leigh Cook. Hartnett's accent leaves something to be desired and he comes off very stiff. Cook's part serves little use--she is a pretty face and the insurance that Rickman and Richardson's styling team capture the win. However, under all the fun, glamor, and heated competition that is the odd business of professional hair-styling, the message is very simple: The importent stuff in life never really goes away, it just changes a little.
Rating: Summary: Look behind the hairspray and see the real beauty. Review: A wife (Natasha Richardson) suddenly leaves her husband (Alan Rickman) and young son (Josh Hartnett) for another woman (Rachel Griffiths). Ten years later, she has cancer and is dying. In an attempt to try up loose ends in her life, Shelley Allen wants to enter a team (herself, her ex, their son, and her lover) in the British National Hairdressing Championships for old time's sake. Winning is optional. Alan Rickman works his magic has the husband who never stopped loving his wife; he's no longer "in love" but she is still importent to him. Natasha Richardson radiates fear as a woman who knows her days are numbered but doesn't know how many she has left. She wants to live her last days in happiness with her family and reuniting this winning styling team may be her only hope to make that happen. The weak link in a chain of strong actors are the Americans, Josh Hartnett and Rachael Leigh Cook. Hartnett's accent leaves something to be desired and he comes off very stiff. Cook's part serves little use--she is a pretty face and the insurance that Rickman and Richardson's styling team capture the win. However, under all the fun, glamor, and heated competition that is the odd business of professional hair-styling, the message is very simple: The importent stuff in life never really goes away, it just changes a little.
Rating: Summary: Blow Dry: It's Not Just About Hair Review: Alan Rickman is fantastic in any role he takes on. In his role as a divorced hair stylist, who is still in love with his ex-wife who is a lesbian, Alan continues to amaze the audience with his multi-faceted talent. He touches your heart with humor, love, angered emotion and a yearning for what he knows he can't have; his wife. In the midst of it all is a plot that is both comical and tragic. This film had me watching it again and again and again. If you love Alan Rickman, you will love this movie as well.
Rating: Summary: Rachael Leigh Cook not a main character Review: Be warned: The packaging strongly implies that Rachael Leigh Cook is the co-star of this movie, to capitalize on her recent fame. This is a fib: she is a minor character.
Rating: Summary: Blow dry- feat. josh hartnett Review: Blow dry is not one of the best films you may have ever seen, but nont the less, it's pretty darn good. Josh Hartnett is very hot in it, although he doesnt quite manage to nail the British accent.
Rating: Summary: This Little Movie Grows On You Review: Choosing between watching middle-aged white men with comb-overs and their women with tinted tresses (i.e., the Republican convention on TV) and BLOW DRY, a sometimes hilarious movie about hair, was easy. I have seen this little concoction four times now and it like hair grows on you. A little town in England is chosen for the British Hair Dressing Championship where the candidates must compete in four categories: Women's Blow Dry Combs, Men's Free Style, Hair By Night and Total Look. The plot isn't complicated and is predictable: you know Phil, who hasn't competed in ten years, will come out of retirement and comb and blow-dry hair with sweet abandon. But there are funny stops along the way. Try dying the hair of the dead, for example. Or giving a senior citizen a do that would have looked great in an Eighteenth Century drawing room or that the late Republican Martha Mitchell would have worn. Throw in a romance or two and a couple of cheaters in the competition and you get enough laughs for everyone. The critics-- at least some of them-- are concerned that the movie can't decide if it's high camp (maybe high hair) or a too serious commentary on life. I see their point but didn't flip my wig because of that. On a serious note, the movie makes a statement about what makes up a family, something the Republicans say they are concerned about. Maybe they should see this movie too.
The cast includes Alan Rickman, Natasha Richardson, Rachael Leigh Cook, Josh Hartnett and Rachel Griffiths. Good performances and even better comb-outs were had by all.
Rating: Summary: more than an excellent film! Review: for anyone who enjoyed "The Full Monty," you will most certainly enjoy this newest spectacle from the same writer. however, instead of setting his sights on male strippers, he has gone after the hairdressing industry with a film that is beyond hilarious! when i saw it in the theater, the entire audience, which was primarily above the age of 50, was rolling in the aisles. to a twenty-year-old person, the sight of 100 conservative geriatric citizens laughing so hard they cried at a movie, says a lot about the humor factor of a film. my cheeks were aching too by the time we left. the plot is based upon the premise that the British Hair Championships are underway in a small town, home of a retired competitor (Alan Rickman). his son, played by Josh Hartnett, wishes to enter the competition, as well as the ex-wife and her lesbian partner and all of them eventually get sucked into the drama. the hairstyles are amazingly complex, hideous, and breathtaking and the people are such unusual characters that you can't help but love them all, even the most obnoxious ones! if you're in the mood to see a movie that is completely ridiculous and will blow your socks off, this is the one to see!
Rating: Summary: more than an excellent film! Review: for anyone who enjoyed "The Full Monty," you will most certainly enjoy this newest spectacle from the same writer. however, instead of setting his sights on male strippers, he has gone after the hairdressing industry with a film that is beyond hilarious! when i saw it in the theater, the entire audience, which was primarily above the age of 50, was rolling in the aisles. to a twenty-year-old person, the sight of 100 conservative geriatric citizens laughing so hard they cried at a movie, says a lot about the humor factor of a film. my cheeks were aching too by the time we left. the plot is based upon the premise that the British Hair Championships are underway in a small town, home of a retired competitor (Alan Rickman). his son, played by Josh Hartnett, wishes to enter the competition, as well as the ex-wife and her lesbian partner and all of them eventually get sucked into the drama. the hairstyles are amazingly complex, hideous, and breathtaking and the people are such unusual characters that you can't help but love them all, even the most obnoxious ones! if you're in the mood to see a movie that is completely ridiculous and will blow your socks off, this is the one to see!
Rating: Summary: rocks Review: funny , sweet , touching , gripping british comerdy that really packs the laughs.
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