Despite a gifted Anglo-American cast, Blow Dry strikes an uneasy balance between sentiment and camp. It aims for the same sort of high-wire act that Strictly Ballroom and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert pulled off so effortlessly, but melodrama wins the day. The comic moments are suitably over the top (as expected in a film about duelling hairdressers), but rarely as amusing as intended. The relationships between barbershop owner Phil (Alan Rickman), ex-wife Shelley (Natasha Richardson) and Sandra (Rachel Griffiths), "the other woman", could be more fully developed but are affecting nonetheless. The setting is West Yorkshire. The event that brings them together is the British National Hairdressing Championships. Phil initially resists the urge to compete as it reminds him of the success he and Shelley once enjoyed, but his son Brian (Josh Hartnett) convinces him to give it a go. Hartnett and Rachael Leigh Cook (She's All That), as the daughter of Phil's old nemesis, seem like peculiar casting choices for a British film, but Hartnett's accent is passable (Cook plays an American) and they don't embarrass themselves as much as supermodel Heidi Klum, who plays a tacky, two-timing hair model. The screenplay is by Simon Beaufoy of Full Monty fame. Although not up to that standard--and certainly no match for Shampoo (the greatest hairdressing movie of all time)--Blow Dry is still a good showcase for the talents of its three leads. --Kathleen C Fennessy
On The DVD:Blow Dry's on disc anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen transfer holds a great spectrum or colour. A film about hairdressing needs to faithfully recreate the lavish, over-the-top barnets in all their glorious Technicolor detail and luckily the result is a rich and detailed film with excellent colour saturation throughout. In terms of extras, the film is pretty much left to speak for itself. A blink and you’ll miss it "making of" documentary featuring interviews with cast and crew and an eclectic collection of trailers for such other comedies as She's All That and Muriel's Wedding are all that you get to while away the post feature presentation minutes. –-Kristen Bowditch
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