Beauty Shop

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Entertainment: +2 1/2

Content: -2

This comedy begins where Barber Shop 2 left off. Hair stylist Gina Norris (Queen Latifah) moves from Chicago to Atlanta to give her teenage daughter (Paige Hurd) the best opportunity to follow in her deceased fathers footsteps as a musician. Gina also takes with her an employee (Alicia Silverstone) and a few clients (Andie MacDowell, Mena Suvari) and is quickly employed with Jorge (Kevin Bacon), an effeminate, flamboyant and self-absorbed beauty-shop owner. But with Ginas management skills and her home-made hair conditioner, she strikes out on her own and takes an inner-city beauty shop from rundown to upscale and trendy. Joe (Djimon Hounsou), who lives above the salon, seems out of place with his charm, culture and chivalry amidst the edgy, street-smart clients and neighbors of Ginas Beauty Shop. The evolution of Ginas new business is the source of many funny moments.

There is a strong positive message in Beauty Shop. Gina Norris makes her daughters upbringing and education a top priority so that Vanessa will be raised to be confident and successful. Gina invests tremendous effort, not only in building her business, but also in developing her workers including the white shampoo girl she hires away from Jorges shop. But there is also a strong negative message in this movie. Willie (Lil JJ), a boy about Vanessas age, has learned to be a booty chaser and a smooth talker. Beauty Shop portrays women as sexual objects to entice men, and men as hunky flesh to attract women. Due to the pervasive emphasis on sexuality and the overtly colorful, offensive language, including a plethora of remarks about male homosexuality in the beauty industry, Preview cannot recommend this film.

Preview Reviewer: Brian Hughes
Distributor:
MGM / United Artists

Summary
The following categories contain objective listings of film content which contribute to the subjective numeric Content ratings posted to the left and on the Home page.

Crude Language: Many (53) times mild (hell 6, damn 15); moderate (b-tt 2, t-ts 6); strong (-ss 14, b-tch 9, wh-re 1 )

Obscene Language: Few (3) times strong (s-word 3)

Profanity: Several (7) times moderate (OMG 3, L 3, dear G 1)

Violence: Several times mild (slapping, throwing a boy out the door by the scruff of his neck and seat of his pants, mean looks by gangsters); moderate (place of business has had its front window broken, furnishings maliciously destroyed and vulgar language painted on the walls)

Sex: Several times mild (it is implied that a woman stays the night with a man in his apartment, it is implied that a girl has made a lot of money selling herself on the street to a pimp); moderate (women grind their buttocks seductively and rub their buttocks against men on a dance floor to produce arousal, woman grabs mans buttocks)

Nudity: Several times mild (women dress in tight-fitting clothing to accentuate their breasts, buttocks and midriffs; men wear open shirts or no shirts in order to attract sexual interest; cleavage is prominent on several women)

Sexual Dialogue/Gesture: Many times mild (radio personality talks about her sex life on the radio using colorful metaphors; a 12-year-old boy hustles women and girls on the streets using slang language; woman talks about getting breast implants; woman asks a man if he wants to kiss it, referring to her buttocks; woman asks her daughter, Do these pants make my butt look big?, daughter says Yes, and woman says Good!, women talk about body waxing); moderate (women talk in clinical and in slang terms about being sexually enticing to a man and being pleasured by a man, a boy uses a video camera to record women walking the streets focusing on their buttocks and making comments about how they move); strong (woman makes a frank comment about her husbands genitalia, woman talks about how her daughters pants are so low in the front that people can almost see her burning bush, discussion about a method of intercourse called tapping, discussion about sex toys and climaxing)

Drugs: Few times mild (women are shown drinking to excess at a celebration at a dance club); moderate (special hair conditioner is referred to as hair crack)

Other: None

Running Time: 105 minutes
Intended Audience: Older teens and adults


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