BEAUTY SHOP -- by naudy

 BEAUTY SHOP, or BARBER SHOP III, has Queen Latifa, Alicia Silverstone (who for once I actually enjoyed watching) and this gentleman, Dijimon Hounsou. He might be a good actor but I was too busy looking at him to notice. Also in this movie is Andi MacDowell (in the only charming role I have ever seen her in) and the underutilzed Kevin Bacon as "Jorje." It dosn't matter anyway as this is another Barbershop movie -- which means it's formula. Primary formula points:

• One (1) small business owner
• One (1) small business
• Lots (4-10) of spunky individual characters who act as a foil for the sane and mostly right Small Business Owner
• Entertaining trash talk/political commentary
• A happy ending

Generally I liked it. It's a weak film, which at first glance seems strange. I mean, it's got good actors, lots of money, and plenty of time to be made. It's a fun formula which would seem to enable the screenwriters to really have some fun playing with the dynamic and trying to outdo each other. Unfortunately, even with all that this movie has going for it (Mr. Hounsou not being an insignificant part of the assetts!) this movie is weak and it's all because of it's director. The cinematography is rife with badly planned/executed/focused shots. It's weak with pointless details which pull focus from the story and distract the viewer. The script is chewed up and thinned down until the storyline dosn't really make sense and dosn't give the actors enough to work with. All of the good moments are from the actors themselves, and they had to work to get them there.
So why did I like it? Well, I still like those actors. And I could see (just like in the film ROBOTS) that it once had been a cute movie. It's still a cute movie, but it's more of a mangled distracted wobbly cute than a polished and perfectly presented cute.