From the writer that brought us THE FULL MONTY comes BLOW DRY, another comedy that’s as sweet and fluffy a confection as cotton candy. The setting is Keighley, a working-class town in Yorkshire, England, that has been chosen to be the unlikely host of the National Hair Championships. As it turns out, the town is also home to a couple of former stars of the competitive hair styling world. Shelley (Richardson) and Phil (Rickman) were a husband-and-wife team that was once a shoo-in to win the national title. Both their ambitions and their marriage ended when Shelley ran away with the hair model, Sandra (Griffiths), the night before the championships. Now, 10 years later, Shelley runs the ladies’ hair salon with Sandra, and Phil runs the barbershop with their son, Brian (Hartnett). Shelley and Phil have not spoken once during this time, and Brian has a strained relationship with his mother. Shelley longs for them to all be a family again, and sees the Championships as a way to bring them together.

BLOW DRY is populated with the odd and colorful English characters we’ve come to expect in films like this. In addition, there are plenty of gravity-defying hairstyles to dazzle the eye. Certainly the story is predictable, and the people often more caricatures than characters. But think of BLOW DRY as comfort food—sometimes it’s nice to know what exactly what you’re getting.

—Sandhya Shardanand

hybridCinema Ratings Guide:

Take a pal and pay full price for both tickets.

It’s worth a full-price ticket.

It’s worth a matinee ticket.

Wait for video rental.

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