Blow Dry (2001)

Number Rolled: 43

Movie Name/Year: Blow Dry (2001)

Genre: Comedy

Length: 90 minutes

Rating: R

Director: Paddy Breathnach

Writer: Simon Beaufoy

Actors: Alan Rickman, Natasha Richardson, Rachel Griffiths, Rachael Leigh Cook, Josh Hartnett, Bill Nighy, Warren Clarke, Rosemary Harris, Hugh Bonneville, Heidi Klum, Peter McDonald, Michael McElhatton, David Bradley, Ben Crompton

A woman, once married to an award winning hairdresser, finds out that her cancer has not gone into remission. At the same time, a hair styling championship contest is held in her town. Seeing this as an opening to get her estranged family together for one last hurrah, she goes about collecting the errant members and entering.

There’s not much to say about the film. It is about as cookie-cutter a film as any I’ve ever seen. The dance competition/sports/underdog films of the past were torn open, replaced with hairdressing, imbued with British accents and otherwise stayed exactly the same. From the first moment the Mayor announces the small town will be hosting the contest, the viewer knows exactly what’s going to happen and where the film is going.

I can usually tolerate recipe films and, sometimes, I even get to give them credit for an interesting ingredient or two they added to get to the end result. I wish I could say that here. The actors credited in this film are well know and very good at what they do and I like the basic recipe of underdog movies. However, the best I can say is that it didn’t completely suck.

Alan Rickman and Rachael Leigh Cook were spectacular in their parts, and most of the other actors were equally brilliant – even given the very mediocre parts they were playing. Also, nobody does a love scene (even small ones) quite like Josh Hartnett. That being said, he should stay far, far, away from British accents. Sometimes he sounded Scottish and other times he dropped the accent completely. It was almost embarrassing to watch.

My last thought on the film is that I don’t agree with the rating. I’m not sure why it was rated R. There was no harsh language, only implied nudity, no extreme violence… I admit I’m confused. If anyone has insight as to the reason, please let me know.

Overall Opinion – 2.5/5