听 Barbershop spin-off Beauty Shop was designed as a starring vehicle for the eminently charismatic Queen Latifah who "carries the weight" of a rather flabby script. Director Billie Woodruff injected lots of sauce and girly gossip to spice up this story of a hairdresser who strikes out on her own, but it didn't score nearly as well with critics or audiences as Barbershop or even Barbershop 2.
Blowing Hot Air
Latifah, co-star Kevin Bacon and director Billie Woodruff are among those who break down the story in Inside The Style, otherwise there's very little behind-the-scenes access. We're also introduced to the tong-welding technical advisor and, as usual, cast and crew line up to pat their director on the back. Still, Bryce Wilson (who plays James) gives something of a backhanded compliment when he reveals, "We call him Mental Jekyll because he gets inside your head."
Cutting Remarks
Woodruff delivers a few of his own backhanded compliments in an otherwise drowsy commentary for selected scenes. He explains that Alicia Silverstone carefully researched her thick Southern drawl to play shampoo girl Lynn before adding, "It was a problem for some people but I really like her accent." He later has a sly dig at Barbershop stars Cedric The Entertainer and Ice Cube who wouldn't make cameo appearances because of "scheduling difficulties, I guess..." And on the matter of casting the po-faced Djimon Hounsou (as Latifah's love interest), he freely admits, "Everyone thought I was crazy because he's so serious."
As if to prove the point, Latifah fails to get a rise out of Hounsou in a cuss-heavy outtakes reel, which wraps up this stingy collection of extras. In all, this DVD is definitely a case of hairstyles over substance.
EXTRA FEATURES
