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March 12, 2001 - Image 5

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Michigan Daily, 2001-03-12

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Dr. Cornell West...
Harvard Professor of Religion and Afro-
American studies speaks about the links
between the Holocaust and other forms
of Genocide. Rackham. 7 p.m. Free.

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Aar llkFLTS

michigandaily.com /arts

MONDAY
MARCH 12, 2001

5A

Audience is
left tangled
ip'Bow Dry'
By Jenny Jeltes
Daily Arts Writer
"On your toes boy! Balance ... shift ... feel it!"
Never would one guess that this line comes from a
father coaching his son on how to style hair. That's
right folks. How to style hair. Paddy Breathnach
("The Full Monty") brings us "Blow Dry," a story
of a broken family that man-
ages to pull it all together
through their cohesive effort at
winning the National
Blow Dry Hairdressing Championships
in Yorkshire, England.
Grade: C+ So who's going to win the
Silver Scissors Trophy?
At State Theater However silly the theme may
sound, the audience soon finds
itself lost in the flurry of high-
lights, extensions, and hair-
spray. A refreshing change,
"Blow Dry" provides one with
subtle British humor and some
fascinating hairdos.
Unfortunately, many flaws stifle the film's wonder-
ful potential. With such a fun theme and some fine
acting talent, it's a shame "Blow Dry" just couldn't
pull it off. The plot is overdone. It just can't attain
the right style; too much hairspray and some split
ends simply make it lose its flair, and although it
grazes the edges of satisfaction, it simply goes
1#.
Shelley (Natasha Richardson) and her girlfriend
Sandra (Rachel Griffiths), who work at the local
barbershop "The Cut Above," decide to enter the
competition. Shelley eventually convinces her ex-
husband and co-worker Phil (Alan Rickman) and
her son Brian to join, for they too do hair. Phil,
however, has a hard time with this, since Shelley
and Phil divorced years ago because Shelley fell in

Teen comedy clich6s
hard to 'Get Over'

By Matthew Barrett
Daily Arts Writer
"Get Over It" never strays far from
the cookie cutter path established by
the recent collection of teen-comedies
polluting today's movie theaters. It

features a familiar

courtesy aofMiramax nims

Get Over It
Grade: F
At Showcase
and Quality 16

cast, a grooving
soundtrack (here
we even get
appearances by
Sisqo and
Vitamin C),
inane dialogue
and a story that
has nothing new
to say. The film
is so worried
about appealing
to its pinpointed
audience that it
never once con-
cerns itself with,
those of us who

The cast of "Blow Dry" search high and low for a movie that doesn't suck.

love with Sandra.
This entanglement seems sufficient for a film
lasting only one hour and ten minutes. However, the
focus of the story shifts all over the place, ignoring
important relationships and involving itself in many
pointless subplots. The acting is great, thus making
the story, however fabricated and tedious, tolerable
and even enjoyable. But it just tries too hard to be
something it's not. It provides some laughs, but
that's about it.
There are several conflicts in the story, opening
up a difficult task of bringing them together suc-
cessfully in the end. First, Phil's rival Ray (Bill
Nighy) of Raymond Robinson's Hair Studio, is
apparently cheating in the contest. One of his bud-
dies breaks the combs right before round one,
allowing him to have more time to work his model's
'do. Speaking of models, Ray's hair model,
Christina (Rachael Leigh Cook, "She's All That")
soon finds out about his cheating behavior. Okay,
so this conflict fits in the story fairly well. It would
be nice to stop here.
But wait ... this is just the beginning. Brian falls
in love with Christina and Christina soon learns that
Brian has been getting some extra hairstyling prac-
tice in by working on dead people's hair at the

morgue where he works. Are these details neces-
sary? What ever happened to the story of Shelley
and her apparently failed marriage? Nevertheless,
the story continues along, leaving the audience
bewildered.
The best part of "Blow Dry" is definitely the last
round of the competition, referred to as "The Total
Look." Some of the hairstyles are really far out and
if you care about hair or not, the dramatization of
this crucial competition is very entertaining. A
befuddling ending, however, outweighs the fun.
(Note: Don't read on if you don't want to know the
ending.)
We soon find out that Shelley has had cancer for
the past 10 years and has kept it a secret from
everyone, including Sandra. She was undergoing
extensive chemotherapy and was wearing a wig.
Perhaps it was her last wish to partake in the
championships with her family, amidst the under-
lying tension between them all. This conclusion
simply fails to have an effect on the viewer.
Chemotherapy just doesn't fit into the equation. It
takes away any -energy the audience might have
left after following numerous silly subplots and it
leaves the viewer thinking "Huh? I thought this
movie was about hair."

to be a bonus for us as we're no longer
subjected to what might be the most
horrid depiction of the game ever put
on film. Sisqo takes the cake with his
head-high dribbling display while
running the point, although in many
ways this is the funniest moment in
the movie. Berke's decision to sacri-
fice basketball for the play and a
chance at winning Allison back is
never given its due story-wise, and
this makes it hard to believe that there
was difficulty surrounding this
choice. No one in "Get Over It" has
much personality or, for that matter,
anything that would make them
engaging or interesting to watch.
Everyone here is just looking out for
themselves and those characters who
are different from the norm are so
over-the-top and ridiculous that their
eccentricities hurt the film far more
than they help it.
The story kind of bounces along
with no rhyme or reason, just the
occasional dream sequence, musical
number or shot of a dog humping
something (a tree, a basketball and a
character's leg are all used) inserted
every so often to keep things rolling.
These.gags are never that funny to
begin with and only get more and
more annoying as the movie progress-
es.
There is nothing positive about this
film, except for the fact that it's only
90 minutes long. If you are forced into
seeing it, make sure you leave the sec-
ond that the movie ends, so you won't
be subjected to the credit sequence
where the cast sings along to
"September." Leaving will help you
recoup two of the minutes that you
wasted watching this mindless tripe.

might be looking for little throwaway
things like humor, plot, or heart.
The setup here is underdeveloped,
predictable and dull as can be. It cen-
ters on Berke (Ben Foster), a high
school student bumming over the fact
that his girlfriend Allison (Melissa
Sagemiller) left him high and dry.
Berke, however, is not one to take
defeat lying down. He decides to try
out for the school play where he can
act alongside Allison and hopefully
have the chops to impress her back
into his arms. Berke enlists the assis-
tance of singer, composer, babe in a
bathing suit and budding thespian
Kelly (Kirsten Dunst) to help him
make his mark in the play.
By acting in the play, Berke ditches
his basketball career, which turns out

t'iara' takes its advice from grandma

U U
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

4

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
BIOLOGICAL STATION
www.umich.edu/-umbs

By Shannon O'Sullivan
Daily Arts Writer

Who knows "time tested secrets"
better than Grandma? With advice
like, "Have another piece of cake and

wash it down with
Susan
Jane
Gilman
Shaman Drum
Tonight at 8

a gin and tonic,"
and "Take a few
lovers, travel the
world, and don't
take any crap,"
Susan Jane
Gilman's grand-
ma was her main
influence in
writing "Kiss
My Tiara: How
to Rule the
World as a
S mar t -Mo u th
Goddess."
In today's
world, full of

contradictory messages and expecta-
tions for women, "Kiss My Tiara"
offers humorous and no-nonsense
alternatives to negative and annoying
issues coming from the media, men,
relatives, and friends.
Sharing her grandma's witty
rearks with her own intuitive voice,
an, who will be reading from
"Kiss My Tiara" tonight at Shaman
Drum, approaches tackling tactics
from careers, sex, dating, dieting,
and more. Taking a turn from the
typical self-help books which coun-
sel women on the old formulas, los-
KIRISTw
COMsTO THE AR13.
ROOM OF THEi
MICWGAN DAMY
(420 MAYNMW)
AND PICK UP A
COMPLIMENTARY.
ADMtT TWO PASS.-
OR "GET OVER IT,"
GOOD) POR ANY.
SHOWING...
MONDAY ThROUG.H...
TKURsDAY
I-.

courtesy of Warner Books
Susan Jane Gilman has written commen-
tary for The New York Times, Ms., US,
The Los Angeles Times and many others.
ing weight and catching Prince
Charming, Gilman guides women on
becoming Smart-Mouth Goddesses
when it comes to: 1) Beauty: Sure
beauty has the power to excite men.
But so does a box of donuts. 2) Food:
The Jews didn't survive on wheat-
grass. Neither will we. 3) Dating:
"The real purpose of a date is so we
can tell our gal-pals about it the next
day. With 99% of dates ending in dis-
appointment, we're better off using it
as a source of endless entertain-
ment." 4) Marriage: "Don't build a
marriage on sexual chemistry. Sure
fireworks are spectacular, but look

what happens to them. Fifteen sec-
onds and poof!"
Each chapter not only begins with
a witty title ranging from PMS is a
Power Tool, Fish Who Need Bicycles
(A Thinking Girl's Guide to Love), to
Wisdom From Dickville, but each
page provides a laugh and a smile.
"Kiss My Tiara" is much more
than advice with an attitude on dat-
ing and sex; it's about money, power
and politics as well. Regarding
money as a power tool, Gilman sug-
gests classic man-catching tech-
niques, playing hard to get, acting
mysterious, which actually help
women get the millionaires they're
supposedly trying to marry.
Ruling the world as a smart mouth
goddess comes from the assumption
that talk in itself has the power to
persuade and influence today's
world. Take the phrase, "You go,
Girl," formally exclusive to 'drag
queens and homegirls.' Now 80-year-
olds in Branson, Missouri are calling
it out to each other on Bingo Night."
With the guts, tools, brains, attitude,
and even clothes, Gilman concludes
that today's women are in prime
position to conquer the world.
As her grandma used to say, "'The
world will be more heart-breaking
than you know, and more beautiful
than you'll ever imagine.' So let's
follow our own path, stand tall, and
not take any shit. And while we're at
it, have a good laugh."

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