Beauty Shop

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.

Plot
Gina Norris (Queen Latifah) is a widowed hairstylist who has moved from Chicago to Atlanta so her daughter Vanessa (Paige Hurd) can attend a private music school. She's made a name for herself as a stylist, but after her self-centered and domineering boss, Jorge (Kevin Bacon), criticizes her decisions, she leaves 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 (Lil' JJ) 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 (Keshia Knight Pulliam), 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 (Djimon Hounsou), is a handsome, sexy 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 (Jim Holmes), 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. And one of her former clients from Jorge's uses her connections to set up a meeting with Cover Girl for Gina's homemade miracle conditioner, affectionately called "hair crack".

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, 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 a 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. As soon as Gina leaves, James (Bryce Wilson) (Gina's only male employee) and a few of his friends 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 (Adele Givens), they find out 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
 * Alicia Silverstone as Lynn
 * Andie MacDowell as Terri
 * Alfre Woodard as Ms. Josephine
 * Mena Suvari as Joanne Marcus
 * Lil' JJ as Willie
 * Adele Givens as DJ Helen
 * Kevin Bacon as Jorge Christophe/George Christie
 * Djimon Hounsou as Joe
 * Bryce Wilson as James
 * Crystal Garrett as Woman
 * Della Reese as Mrs. Towner
 * Golden Brooks as Chanell
 * Jim Holmes as Inspector Crawford
 * Joyful Drake as Mercedes
 * Tawny Dahl as Porsche
 * Keshia Knight Pulliam as Darnelle
 * Laura Hayes as Paulette
 * Octavia Spencer as Big Customer
 * Paige Hurd as Vanessa Norris
 * Reagan Gomez-Preston as Woman
 * Sherri Shepherd as Ida
 * Sheryl Underwood as Catfish Rita


 * Cameo appearances
 * Birdman as Glen
 * Ki Toy Johnson as Neighborhood Girl
 * Kimora Lee Simmons as Denise
 * LisaRaye McCoy as Rochelle
 * Wilmer Valderrama as Corky
 * Andrew Levitas as Stacy

Reception
Reviews for the film were mixed; it earned a 38% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on reviews from 117 critics, with the site's consensus being that the film itself was not the equal of Queen Latifah's strong performance. On Metacritic, the film has averaged a 53 rating from 28 critics. Allmovie gave the film 3/5 stars, with reviewer Derek Armstrong saying 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." Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "A-" on scale of A to F.

Awards and nominations
2005 BET Comedy Awards
 * Outstanding Directing for a Theatrical Film &mdash; Bille Woodruff (nominated)
 * Outstanding Lead Actress in a Theatrical Film &mdash; Queen Latifah (nominated)
 * Outstanding Theatrical Film (nominated)
 * Outstanding Writing for a Theatrical Film &mdash; Audrey Wells, Kate Lanier, Norman Vance Jr. (nominated)

2005 Black Movie Awards
 * Outstanding Achievement in Writing &mdash; Kate Lanier, Norman Vance Jr. (nominated)
 * Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role &mdash; Queen Latifah (nominated)

2005 Teen Choice Awards
 * Choice Movie Actress: Comedy &mdash; Queen Latifah (nominated)
 * Choice Movie: Hissy Fit &mdash; Queen Latifah (nominated)
 * Choice Movie: Sleazebag &mdash; Kevin Bacon (nominated)
 * Choice Movie: Rap Artist &mdash; Queen Latifah (nominated)

2006 Black Reel Awards
 * Best Actress &mdash; Queen Latifah (nominated)

2006 NAACP Image Awards
 * Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture &mdash; Queen Latifah (nominated)

Home Media
The film was released on DVD and VHS on August 23rd, 2005. Making it the final film Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released on VHS as an independent company. All other VHS releases of MGM films afterwards were released by either Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, or in one case, Paramount Home Entertainment.