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frank_spicer
Reviews
Be Cool (2005)
Bad, Bad, Bad
If you see this movie you will undoubtedly regret the 2+ hours you will never get back. I loved Get Shorty which was funny, novel and even thought-provoking (do things make you cool or does a cool person make the things?). I figured this movie had to be at least decent with such veterans as Vaughn and Travolta but apparently not. Even the best talent and premise can be perverted into schlock if you try hard enough. Apparently the premise was to re-use the humorous bits from the first movie under the impression they were "running jokes" rather than retreads. There are so many jokes which tie into the original movie they forgot to write some new ones. The other decision was to make a comedy based on lots and lots of over the top characters rather than have a cohesive plot with strong support characters as was done in the original. When has a sequel ever benefited by having inane characters linked by a thin plot? This type of movie requires a Mel Brooks but even Mel had a plot to work with. One of the biggest disappointments was the reuniting of Uma and John on screen. The scene fell completely flat and Uma and John looked like they were going through the motions as if to say "even our reuniting on screen isn't going to save this thing".
Beauty Shop (2005)
Not bad for light-weight comedy
This movie was better than the reviews I read by mainstream reviewers gave it. I think it was unfair to review this movie in the context of how it compared to Barbershop. I also thought it was unfair to rate this movie based on it's accuracy to African-American life and culture. This was a comedy and as a comedy it had it's funny portions and the story moved quickly enough for most people to survive the non-comedic moments. Will this movie be remembered 5 years from now? Most likely not but I enjoyed my two hours in the theater which is all I really expected from the movie. I predict this movie to be one of those which will do well in rental as one of those movies not quite worth $8.50 to a large segment of the world but worth $4 for a family to rent on a Friday night. Queen Latifah is her usual fun self to watch but she seemed a little overwhelmed carrying a movie solo. That said the best comedies usually have two strong comedic actors who play well off of each other. The producers did a disservice to her by not giving her a wingman for this picture.