What ever is a “Queen” to do without her “Ice”? Well, she could up and move to another state, open up her own shop, and make a spin-off sequel called Beauty Shop. This time around, Ice Cube is serving as producer, and Queen Latifah is once again reprising her role as Gina, the smart-mouthed and ultra-tough stylist, this time with her own shop.
When Gina’s daughter gets accepted to a very prestigious music school in Atlanta, Gina packs up her things and gets a job as a stylist at a very chic salon owned by none other than Kevin Bacon! Ok, so it’s not actually Kevin Bacon, but Jorge Christophe, the belittling and extremely critical trendy hair salon owner drives away his best stylist causing her to open up he> own shop – Gina’s Beauty Shop.
As with many spin-offs, Beauty Shop is a film which would have to pull out all the stops in order to both set itself apart from Barber Shop 1 and 2, as well not move to far away from what made its precessors a success – and it does it without missing a beat.
Beauty Shop has a very simple formula, which worked for Barbershop, and will probably work for them and the impending sequels to come; Add an “fe” to the male from Barber shop and you have Beauty Shop. The dialogue and the gossip are now from a woman’s point of view. That doesn’t take away from it, though. It’s very funny and Queen Latifah is the epitome of a strong black woman. The interaction between her and Christophe is genius of both the writer’s credit, and theirs.
Speaking of writing – the one place the movie suffers is in its lack of organization. There is simply too much going on for one movie; it’s often hard to keep track of everything that is going on. Thankfully the performances are often bold enough to bring your attention to the task at hand. Most notably by Alicia Silverstone, as Lynn, the wet-behind-the-ears Southern Belle, who’s loyalty to Gina causes her to also quit Jorge’s salon to become one of Gina’s top stylists. The best scene in the whole film is when she decides to “drop it like its hot” on the dance floor, proving once and for all to her fellow all black co-workers, that she can get down with the best of them.
There are strong character portrayals all across the board in this one. As a follower of the career in Andie McDowell, it was a pleasure seeing her in a fun and much more laxed role than what we’re used to. Mena Suvari, too, steps out from her usual portrayals of the sweet “girl next door”, as the rich and bitchy Joanne Marcus, the girl whose twins are not identical (a Jorge Christophe joke). And I can’t help but go on about Bacon’s role in this film. After playing the most serious part in his long ...
