American Mullet

One of the least graceful trends of the recent past was the mullet, the hairstyle which kept the follicles short on the sides and front and extra-extra-long in the back. In a way, the mullet was the great hair equalizer: everyone who sported it looked simply awful. Jennifer Arnold's documentary American Mullet cheerfully seeks out the story behind this hair-don't, featuring interviews with those who still favor the lopsided style. The reasons for keeping the mullet alive range from making a cultural statement (American Indians and lesbians cite this here, none too convincingly) to maintaining the look for a specific field (professional wrestlers and aging rockers fit this bill) to just not having either good sense or taste (almost everyone else who steps before the camera).  As a celebration of the ultimate bad hair field day, Arnold's hour-shy documentary is--like the back half of the mullet--way too long; there's just so much you can say about a dumb haircut before (very quickly) becoming repetitive, and this would have been more effective if 20 minutes or so had been shorn. Still, it's hard to seriously begrudge a film promoted as being an "Official Selection" of the Alabama Mullet Film Festival (I can't imagine what the out-of-competition film bill was like!). Optional. Aud: P. (P. Hall)