Good movie

[firecat]

Recommendation for Beauty Shop featuring Queen Latifah. A feel-good comedy that also feels improvisational, the way some of Spike Lee's lighter films do. (In fact, I was under the impression that Spike Lee had been a producer of the film, but I think I was wrong.) Lots of female characters, who talk to each other often, occasionally even about something other than men. Eye candy of several genders and varieties. Body-positive. Lots of snarks against plastic surgery. Kevin Bacon's character is hilarious.

Things that might be objectionable to some folks: Racist and sexist stereotyping, white girl tokenism, predictable plot, some of the acting is wooden, some of the dialog is unintelligible (at least to me).

I haven't seen the Barbershop films that this is apparently a sequel to.

Comments

[kshandra]

I just recently saw the first BarberShop film. I adored it. gridlore, who spent several years as the token white guy in his squad in Georgia, was howling with laughter, because so much of it rang true to him.

[firecat]

Hee. I can imagine.

[eve-l-incarnata.livejournal.com]

What do you mean by "white girl tokenism"?

[firecat]

One of the stylists in the salon was white and was portrayed as a "wannabe black chick." Some reviewers thought this was a cliche and/or offensive. I thought the character was portrayed with affection and wasn't particularly cliched.

[eve-l-incarnata.livejournal.com]

I wonder why the reviewers found that offensive? I've run into lots of wannabes of various sorts.

[firecat]

Me too.

I found most of the reviews of the movie annoying and completely missing the point.

[lysana.livejournal.com]

I'd call it more of a spin-off than a sequel. Latifah's character in Barbershop II is there strictly to play comic foil for the lead for three minutes, set up the spirit of a beauty shop as being similar to the barbershop next door, and otherwise get us aware of her so Beauty Shop would be a more familiar property.

[firecat]

[grin] That makes sense.