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Printer-Friendly ModeSubplots, mysteries make Beauty Shop ugly
April 4, 2005 —
Although not as great as it predecessors Barbershop and Barbershop 2, Beauty Shop has its share of interesting moments. But for the amount of subplots and characters, the movie abruptly finishes and doesn't leave as many memorable characters or moments as the Barbershop set.
In Beauty Shop, Queen Latifah plays Gina, the hair stylist from Barbershop 2 that worked next door to Calvin (Ice Cube). Having relocated to Atlanta so her talented daughter Vanessa (Paige Hurd) can attend a prestigious performing arts school, she becomes a popular stylist at a downtown salon owned by her snotty boss Jorge, played excellently by Kevin Bacon. Due to their dislike for each other and a misunderstanding, Gina quits and starts her own salon in the urban area, taking some of Jorge's clients, and a talented stylist Lynn (Alicia Sliverstone), who was stuck at Jorge's working as a shampoo girl.
The movie's plot revolves around Gina trying to keep up the shop, despite its need for electrical repair. She also tries to avoid an inspector trying to shut the place down while trying to lift up her daughter's spirits due to the death of her father and flirting with the talented piano playing-electrician Joe, (Djimon Hounson) living above the shop.
The movie was funny and had good intentions, but the problem was the lack of proper development of characters due to the many subplots. In Barbershop, you could relate to each of the them and they were lovable despite their shortcomings.
In Beauty Shop, there is mystery around some of the characters, making them come off shady and annoying because there isn't enough information given. There is one character named Joe, a gorgeous metrosexual just out of jail. He had potential to be an interesting character, but ended up confusing the audience.
Overloaded with popular actors and hip-hop icons, the cast is able to cater to both black and white audiences.
With many guest appearances, you see the different interactions between the two races, although the anticipated tension is only touched on - it just isn't executed right at times.
The movie needed to be reworked and would've been good if it the plots were developed more - an hour and a half is not enough for all the subplots they tried to fit in with the movie.