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Hair Show
2004 - PG-13 - 100 Mins.
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| Director: Leslie Small | | Producer: Leslie Small | | Written By: Devon Greggory, Sherri A. McGee, Andrea Allen-Wiley | | Starring: Kellita Smith, Mo'Nique, Gina Torres, Bryce Wilson, Vivica A. Fox |
| Review by: Joe Rickey |
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No you didn't... actually have a good script.
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Two extrinsic sisters unite in order to win a remunerative cash prize at an opulent hair show in the aptly titled 'Hair Show' -- a horrid attempt at copying the formula utilized in the 'Barbershop' films. In fact, 'Beauty Shop'was this film's original title.
The first problem with 'Hair Show' (Aside from the ever so bland title) is that it makes the mistake of countless comedies these days by throwing a mishmash at the screen hoping something will stick with the audience and divert attention from the general ineptitude. The pace is therefore quite quick, with the exception of a slight lag during the film's middle portion where the filmmakers seemed to decide that they needed to pad the film to artificially lengthen it. This strategy imbues the film with countless subplots, including an absurd one involving the IRS, among others. The rapid-fire technique does not work one bit because the comedy is of the inane slapstick variety, often involving characters falling all over one another in the vain hope of eliciting a chuckle from the audience. The feeble attempts at sexual barbs are incredibly lame and otherwise thin, lacking much in substance and trying to compensate by having the characters yell and scream at one another with feigned enthusiasm.
The look of the film is definitely not something to write home about either as the often grainy film stock and unfocused composition is a nuisance. This is one time where a simple point and shoot approach would have likely improved the final product instead of an amateurish attempt to mimic the style of an MTV music video. Speaking of music, 'Hair Show' features perhaps the most irritating and otherwise unpleasant score in a recent motion picture. The hip-hop/techno mix is relentless (relentlessly annoying that is), oftentimes doing what it can to mask the puerile dialogue. Needless to say, subtlety is not one of this film's strong points (indeed if it has any positive aspects that is).
The performances are not much better but the actors didn't exactly have Oscar-winning material to work with. Kellita Smith, who showed a keen eye for self-parody in the underrated 'King's Ransom,' doesn't make out as well here because the content written by a three-person committee is sitcom-like and about as clever. Co-star Mo'Nique ('Soul Plane') lacks the comedic timing of Smith and thus flounders from scene to scene in a fruitless effort to garner a single chortle, much less a full-throated guffaw.
Lacking in pretty much every sphere that would make for even a modestly amusing filmic experience, it instead becomes something more akin to a 100-minute viewing ordeal; and a chore to sit through much of the time. Skip this one.
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