Blow Dry (2001)

the audience applauded

It is a performances centric movie

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Alan Rickman, Natasha Richardson, Bill Nighy, Josh Hartnett, Rachel Griffiths, and Rosemary Harris star in "Blow Dry," a 2000 film directed by Paddy Breathnach.When the small town of Keighley wins the right to have The Annual British Hairdressing Championship, comes to Keighley, it brings up a few questions for Phil (Rickman) and his son Brian (Hartnett) run a barbershop, and where Phil's ex-wife Shelly (Richardson) and her girlfriend Sandra (Griffith) have a beauty salon. Since Shelly left Phil for Sandra, they have ceased talking. Shelly has just learned that she's come to the end of the line with her cancer.Phil has no interest in competing, and one of his rivals, the cheating, underhanded Ray Roberts (Nighy) comes to town and ridicules him. Brian, however, wants to enter. Brian decides to enter the competition with Sandra and his mother. Now the question, will champion Phil enter as well? Ray is using his daughter as his model; Phil's model was once Sandra -- can they mend their rift and help Shelly through her last days? Funny, moving, and well-acted, Blow Dry is clever, fresh, and entertaining. The hairdressers test their blow-dryers and then compete in cut, styling, evening, and finally, full body, re-creating Nefertiti, as an example, or Madama Butterfly. Very serious judges score them. Hilarious.Really lovely movie, about a family trying to come back together, letting go of bitterness and resentment to help someone they love. Terrific.

The annual British Hairdressing Championship comes to the town of Keighley. Phil (Alan Rickman) and her son Brian (Josh Hartnett) run a barbershop. His ex-wife Shelly (Natasha Richardson) and her lesbian partner Sandra (Rachel Griffiths) run a beauty salon. Defending champion Raymond Robertson (Bill Nighy) dissuades Phil from competing. Brian is taken with Raymond's daughter Christina (Rachael Leigh Cook) and joins Shelly who secretly has terminal cancer. This is a British satire. Everybody is playing it up as wacky hairdressing. There are some great Brits but Rachael Leigh Cook and Josh Hartnett stick out as sore thumbs. They are obviously trying to get some buzz going with a couple of hot young Americans. The problem is that I just can't get over these two youngsters trying for a British accent. Sadly, it's unnecessarily distracting. Whereas the story itself is amusing at times. I didn't have any big laughs. It's more cute than funny.

The quaint town of Keighly is the site of the British Hairdressing Championship and the whole town is aflutter with the arrival of the country's top stylists including Ray Robertson (Bill Nighy). His one-time rival (Alan Rickman) has led a quiet life as the local barber ever since his wife (Natasha Richardson) left him. She now owns a beauty shop and wants to enter the competition, but first the doctor has some news for her.This Britcom boasts an ensemble cast of talented stars and a very witty script. There is an interesting back-story for each character; some are silly, others poignant. Bill Nighy is an absolute riot as the flamboyant and unscrupulous hair diva, Rickman plays it serious as a poker-faced used-to-be, while Richardson is plucky as a lesbian with health issues. All of the smaller roles are gems, too, especially the uptight Keighly lord mayor (Warren Clarke) who sings Elvis, and Rosemary Harris as an elderly nursing home resident.This collection of eccentric characters competing in an over-the-top contest had me laughing from start to finish. Highly recommended.

Right off the top let me be honest-I loved the movie. I have seen it at least five times (and still enjoy it every time). It is great to see two veteran (older actors)-Rosemary Harris and Warren Clarke-give outstanding performances in small roles. I measure movies by what I call magic moments- that is those moments that reach and affect you on the most basic level, that is emotionally. This movie has several of these-Rachel Leigh Cook cuts her hair in protest of her father's underhanded tactics; Rachel Griffith's total look ; the conversation between Natasha Richardson and Rhachel Griffith when Rachel finds out about the cancer. Add to this a wonderful ensemble cast of spectators and hairdressers and the film is complete and worth not only seeing, but buying.