Running time: 91 minutes
Starring: Alan Rickman, Natasha Richardson, Rachel Griffiths, Josh Hartnett, Rachel Leigh Cook, Bill Nighy, Warren Clarke
Rating 4 out of 10
The problem with hairdressing competition movies is they are like sporting movies: you already know who wins long before the end. The only hope is that there are some surprises along the way. Unfortunately with Blow Dry there aren't enough. Written by Simon Beaufoy, who was credited with The Full Monty, his subsequent efforts are beginning to make him seem more like a one hit wonder than a genuine force. The laughs are too obvious, too scarce and have a hard time competing with the film's overly sentimental side.
While last year’s hairdressing movie The Big Tease was set (pun intended) in Los Angeles, Blow Dry takes place in the slightly less glamorous location of Keighley in Yorkshire. The town is a lot less excited at hosting the British Hairdressing Championship than its Mayor (Warren Clarke) who sees it as an opportunity to overhaul both the town's and his own drab image.
Keighley also happens to be home to Phil (Alan Rickman), the king of the scissors. The one time champion hairdresser abandoned the competition circuit ten years ago when his wife Shelley (Natasha Richardson) left him for Sandra (Rachel Griffiths), his hair model. Since then the two have rarely spoken, despite both running salons within yards of each other. The only link is their son Brian (Josh Hartnett) who now assists his father.
Amongst the colourful competitors is Phil's old rival Ray Richardson (Bill Nighy), in town hoping to be crowned for the third time. He is accompanied by his daughter Christina (Rachel Leigh Cook), a childhood friend of Brian's who she hasn't seen for years.
Shelley's heartache at being estranged from Phil and Brian is compounded when she discovers her cancer is terminal. Reluctant to tell Sandra, who she fears will be crushed, she has no one to turn to. One contingent of the competition is that team members must be related. Shelley sees this as a timely opportunity to reunite her 'family'. However Phil is less enthusiastic about the idea as he still bears a grudge against Sandra for having stolen his wife and harbours no desire to renter the fray of competition.
The temptation to portray all hairdressers as camp extroverts with a flamboyant dress sense isn’t resisted, resulting in a cackle (or whatever's the collective noun for hairdressers) of crude clichés. The stereotyping isn't constrained to the competitors as almost everyone is drawn with the same wide brush. The humour, when it does arrive, does so in slapstick moments like Brian and Christina breaking into a mortuary to give one of the corpses a fuchsia punk cut. Although Hartnett looks convincing, his northern accent isn't.
The film boasts a strong cast and director Paddy Breathnach is undoubtedly talented as evidenced by the wonderful I Went Down, but Blow Dry is a crass and clumsy effort that seems as outdated and unattractive as a perm.
While last year’s hairdressing movie The Big Tease was set (pun intended) in Los Angeles, Blow Dry takes place in the slightly less glamorous location of Keighley in Yorkshire. The town is a lot less excited at hosting the British Hairdressing Championship than its Mayor (Warren Clarke) who sees it as an opportunity to overhaul both the town's and his own drab image.
Keighley also happens to be home to Phil (Alan Rickman), the king of the scissors. The one time champion hairdresser abandoned the competition circuit ten years ago when his wife Shelley (Natasha Richardson) left him for Sandra (Rachel Griffiths), his hair model. Since then the two have rarely spoken, despite both running salons within yards of each other. The only link is their son Brian (Josh Hartnett) who now assists his father.
Amongst the colourful competitors is Phil's old rival Ray Richardson (Bill Nighy), in town hoping to be crowned for the third time. He is accompanied by his daughter Christina (Rachel Leigh Cook), a childhood friend of Brian's who she hasn't seen for years.
Shelley's heartache at being estranged from Phil and Brian is compounded when she discovers her cancer is terminal. Reluctant to tell Sandra, who she fears will be crushed, she has no one to turn to. One contingent of the competition is that team members must be related. Shelley sees this as a timely opportunity to reunite her 'family'. However Phil is less enthusiastic about the idea as he still bears a grudge against Sandra for having stolen his wife and harbours no desire to renter the fray of competition.
The temptation to portray all hairdressers as camp extroverts with a flamboyant dress sense isn’t resisted, resulting in a cackle (or whatever's the collective noun for hairdressers) of crude clichés. The stereotyping isn't constrained to the competitors as almost everyone is drawn with the same wide brush. The humour, when it does arrive, does so in slapstick moments like Brian and Christina breaking into a mortuary to give one of the corpses a fuchsia punk cut. Although Hartnett looks convincing, his northern accent isn't.
The film boasts a strong cast and director Paddy Breathnach is undoubtedly talented as evidenced by the wonderful I Went Down, but Blow Dry is a crass and clumsy effort that seems as outdated and unattractive as a perm.
