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Nora's Hair Salon 2
Fox // PG-13 // May 13, 2008
List Price: $26.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
Currentfilm.com Review:
An awful, low-end take on "Beauty Shop", "Nora's Hair Salon 2" (the original has a 1.8 rating on IMDB, so I'd love to hear the explanation why it needed to be repeated) starts off with Simone (Stacey Dash) and cousin Lilliana (Tatyana Ali) inheriting the hair salon of the title. Of course, the two family members couldn't be more different, nor could their ideas for what to do with the place, as Lilliana wants to fix it up and keep it running, while Simone is apparently unaware of the lousy real estate market and wants to sell the place to whoever comes along first.
There's really no story beyond two very different sisters who realize that they have to accept their differences and work together if they want to try and make Nora's salon a success. In order to have enough to fill the running time, we get things like a couple of old guys sitting outside commenting on the neighborhood. It comes as no suprise to see the movie turn from ridiculously bland comedy (which includes some offensive stereotypes and comments.)
The performances aren't much to write home about, either. Ali and Dash can't be accused of not trying, as while neither offer a very good performance, the pair certainly at least offer energetic efforts as more idealistic one and the "villain" of the piece, respectively. However, the script leaves them stranded, as the comedy's incredibly unfunny and the drama is weak and underdeveloped.
The less said about the supporting performances, the better: Bobby Brown is terrible as Dash's rapper/actor boyfriend and a moment at 17:30 clearly shows how low-end the movie is: the actor very clearly stumbles on a line and apparently the director felt that was "good enough" to leave in. There's other issues, as well, including some lines badly recorded and added in at the last minute (see one at 27:20 that doesn't even sound like the same actor.)
While "Nora's Hair Salon 2" fell short of being painful to watch (don't get me wrong, it's still terrible, it's just quick at 81 minutes), it's really a movie without a plot beyond the utterly predictable - two different family members argue over money and then realize the importance of family in Big Emotional Moments that seem entirely unearned and entirely due only to the fact that the plot says they should occur. The dialogue remains clunky at best and character development is lacking, but of serious concern is the fact that the whole thing feels thrown together over the course of a few weekends.
The DVD
VIDEO: The film is presented by 20th Century Fox in 1.33:1 full-frame. "Nora's Hair Salon II" looks like it was filmed on video and the transfer is a bit of a mess. The picture remains noticably soft and fuzzy throughout many scenes, and while some scenes do look a bit crisper than others, the presentation as a whole resembles VHS.
Problems included some noticable pixelation and shimmering, as well as a "digital" look in darker scenes. No print flaws were noticed, but the other issues were quite a problem on their own. Colors generally looked fine, but appeared smeary in some scenes.
SOUND: The stereo soundtrack is packed with generic R & B songs, which sound flat, with average recording quality. However, dialogue sounded crisp and clear.
EXTRAS: 2 trailers for other Fox titles.
Final Thoughts: The best part of "Nora's Hair Salon 2" is the fact that it's only 81 minutes. This is a cheap, thrown-together (any movie that uses a take where the actor clearly stumbled a line isn't exactly put together with care) attempt to grab a few bucks from the "Beauty Shop" crowd. The DVD offers subpar audio/video quality and - thankfully, in this case - limited extras.
An awful, low-end take on "Beauty Shop", "Nora's Hair Salon 2" (the original has a 1.8 rating on IMDB, so I'd love to hear the explanation why it needed to be repeated) starts off with Simone (Stacey Dash) and cousin Lilliana (Tatyana Ali) inheriting the hair salon of the title. Of course, the two family members couldn't be more different, nor could their ideas for what to do with the place, as Lilliana wants to fix it up and keep it running, while Simone is apparently unaware of the lousy real estate market and wants to sell the place to whoever comes along first.
There's really no story beyond two very different sisters who realize that they have to accept their differences and work together if they want to try and make Nora's salon a success. In order to have enough to fill the running time, we get things like a couple of old guys sitting outside commenting on the neighborhood. It comes as no suprise to see the movie turn from ridiculously bland comedy (which includes some offensive stereotypes and comments.)
The performances aren't much to write home about, either. Ali and Dash can't be accused of not trying, as while neither offer a very good performance, the pair certainly at least offer energetic efforts as more idealistic one and the "villain" of the piece, respectively. However, the script leaves them stranded, as the comedy's incredibly unfunny and the drama is weak and underdeveloped.
The less said about the supporting performances, the better: Bobby Brown is terrible as Dash's rapper/actor boyfriend and a moment at 17:30 clearly shows how low-end the movie is: the actor very clearly stumbles on a line and apparently the director felt that was "good enough" to leave in. There's other issues, as well, including some lines badly recorded and added in at the last minute (see one at 27:20 that doesn't even sound like the same actor.)
While "Nora's Hair Salon 2" fell short of being painful to watch (don't get me wrong, it's still terrible, it's just quick at 81 minutes), it's really a movie without a plot beyond the utterly predictable - two different family members argue over money and then realize the importance of family in Big Emotional Moments that seem entirely unearned and entirely due only to the fact that the plot says they should occur. The dialogue remains clunky at best and character development is lacking, but of serious concern is the fact that the whole thing feels thrown together over the course of a few weekends.
The DVD
VIDEO: The film is presented by 20th Century Fox in 1.33:1 full-frame. "Nora's Hair Salon II" looks like it was filmed on video and the transfer is a bit of a mess. The picture remains noticably soft and fuzzy throughout many scenes, and while some scenes do look a bit crisper than others, the presentation as a whole resembles VHS.
Problems included some noticable pixelation and shimmering, as well as a "digital" look in darker scenes. No print flaws were noticed, but the other issues were quite a problem on their own. Colors generally looked fine, but appeared smeary in some scenes.
SOUND: The stereo soundtrack is packed with generic R & B songs, which sound flat, with average recording quality. However, dialogue sounded crisp and clear.
EXTRAS: 2 trailers for other Fox titles.
Final Thoughts: The best part of "Nora's Hair Salon 2" is the fact that it's only 81 minutes. This is a cheap, thrown-together (any movie that uses a take where the actor clearly stumbled a line isn't exactly put together with care) attempt to grab a few bucks from the "Beauty Shop" crowd. The DVD offers subpar audio/video quality and - thankfully, in this case - limited extras.
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