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Beauty Shop

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Wikipedia article




'Beauty Shop' is a 2005 American comedy film directed by Bille Woodruff. The film serves as a spin-off of the 'Barbershop' film franchise, and stars Queen Latifah as Gina, a character first introduced in the 2004 film 'Barbershop 2: Back in Business'. This film also stars Alicia Silverstone, Andie MacDowell, Mena Suvari, Kevin Bacon and Djimon Hounsou.

Released theatrically in the United States by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on March 30, 2005, 'Beauty Shop' received generally mixed reviews from critics. The film was also a box office disappointment, only grossing $37.2 million worldwide against a $25 million production budget.

Plot



Gina Norris is a widowed hairstylist who has moved from Chicago to Atlanta so her daughter Vanessa can attend a private music school. She has made a name for herself as a stylist, but after her self-centered and domineering boss, Jorge, criticizes her decisions, she quits and sets up her own shop, purchasing a run-down salon with the help of a loan officer.

Upon buying the salon, she runs into instant barriers: loudmouthed young stylists, older clients who are fixed in their habits, an energetic young boy named Willie who constantly flirts with women (including Vanessa) while filming for his next music video, people wary of her ability as a hairdresser, and the constant trouble her rebellious sister-in-law, Darnelle, finds herself in.

Gina issues an ultimatum with Darnelle to clean up her act and start paying her back or she will be evicted. In a short time, the previous owner's clients become her own and many of her former customers find their way from Jorge's to her salon. When electrical issues arise, she finds that the upstairs renter, Joe, is a handsome electrician from Africa who eventually bonds with Vanessa due to his skills on the piano. Because Jorge is jealous that his shop is losing clients to Gina's, he pays a health inspector named Crawford to find various ways to shut down Gina's business.

Over time, neighborhood regulars frequent the shop and the varied stylists become close to Gina, as does Joe. One of her former clients from Jorge's uses her connections to set up a meeting with CoverGirl for Gina's homemade miracle conditioner, affectionately called "hair crack". During a dance at a night club, James and Lynn start a romance.

Tragedy strikes when the shop is trashed and vandalized the night before Vanessa's big piano recital. When Gina next enters the shop, she finds not only that her staff has cleaned up the majority of the mess and brought items from home so the shop could operate, but Darnelle has also decided to grow up and enter beauty school.

While filming for his next topic, Willie tapes a meeting between Jorge and Inspector Crawford and learns that they were responsible for trying to ruin Gina. Shortly after, a disheveled woman enters the shop and begs for someone to fix her hair for a wedding she has in a few hours. Soon after, Willie shows Gina the videotape of the meeting he filmed of Jorge and Inspector Crawford. Later that night, Gina goes to Jorge's salon to not only tell him about the tape, but that she knows he is not Jorge from Austria, but George Christie from Nebraska. Gina also makes it clear to Jorge that no matter what he'll do to try and bring her down, he will never break her. As she leaves, Jorge insults her, but James (Gina's only male employee) and a few of his friends arrive and give Jorge an extreme haircut as payback for what he did to her in trying to close her shop.

Later, as the shop listens to their favorite radio talk-show host DJ Hollerin' Helen, they discover she was the desperate customer on the way to the wedding as she gives the shop (and Gina's "hair crack" conditioner) a shout-out on the radio.

Cast



*Queen Latifah as Gina Norris

*Djimon Hounsou as Joe

*Alicia Silverstone as Lynn

*Alfre Woodard as Ms. Josephine

*Sherri Shepherd as Ida

*Golden Brooks as Chanel

*Bryce Wilson as James

*Kevin Bacon as Jorge Christophe

*Keshia Knight Pulliam as Darnelle

*Andie MacDowell as Terri

*Mena Suvari as Joanne Marcus

*Paige Hurd as Vanessa Norris

*Laura Hayes as Paulette

*Lil' JJ as Willie

* Omari Hardwick as Byron

*Adele Givens as Hollerin' Helen

*Sheryl Underwood as Catfish Rita

*Jim Holmes as Inspector Crawford

*LisaRaye McCoy as Rochelle

*Kimora Lee Simmons as Denise

*Della Reese as Mrs. Towner

*Joyful Drake as Mercedes

*Tawny Dahl as Porsche

*Andrew Levitas as Stacy

*Octavia Spencer as Ida

*Birdman as Glen

*Wilmer Valderrama as Corky

*Reagan Gomez-Preston as Chelsea

*Ki Toy Johnson as Debbie

*Nancy Lenehan as Mrs. Struggs

Reception



On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 38%, based on reviews from 119 critics, with an average score of 5.35/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Despite a strong performance by Queen Latifah, 'Beauty Shop' is in need of some style pointers." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 53 rating, based on 28 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade A on scale of A to F.

Claudia Puig of 'USA Today' wrote "Overall, the parts don't come together and jell as well as they did in the Barbershop films".

Jennifer Frey of 'The Washington Post' praised lead actress, Queen Latifah, for being herself.

Ruthe Stein of the 'San Francisco Chronicle' said that "[actress] Alfre Woodard shows she's as adept at comedy as drama".

Derek Armstrong of AllMovie gave the film three out of five stars, stating that while the film sticks to the same formula which made the 'Barbershop' films so successful, it still "bursts with life, having attracted a spectrum of enthusiastic performers and a script that exceeds broad character types."

Awards and nominations



'2005 BET Comedy Awards'

*Outstanding Directing for a Theatrical FilmBille Woodruff (nominated)

*Outstanding Lead Actress in a Theatrical FilmQueen Latifah (nominated)

*Outstanding Theatrical Film (nominated)

*Outstanding Writing for a Theatrical FilmAudrey Wells, Kate Lanier, Norman Vance Jr. (nominated)

'2005 Black Movie Awards'

*Outstanding Achievement in WritingKate Lanier, Norman Vance Jr. (nominated)

*Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading RoleQueen Latifah (nominated)

'2005 Teen Choice Awards'

*Choice Movie Actress: ComedyQueen Latifah (nominated)

*Choice Movie: Hissy FitQueen Latifah (nominated)

*Choice Movie: SleazebagKevin Bacon (nominated)

*Choice Movie: Rap ArtistQueen Latifah (nominated)

'2006 Black Reel Awards'

*Best ActressQueen Latifah (nominated)

'2006 NAACP Image Awards'

*Outstanding Actress in a Motion PictureQueen Latifah (nominated)

References




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