Blow Dry

A leaden British dramedy about estranged husband/wife hairdressers reconciling when a big coiffeur competition comes to their small town, Blow Dry shares some of the same problems as The Big Tease, last year's similarly themed mockumentary. The laughs come mostly from tired flamboyancy stereotypes (back-biting, over-styled dos and David Copperfield showmanship among stylists), the cheer-for-the-underdog story is little more than a transplanted sports plot, and the film is saddled with a maudlin, comedy-killing secondary storyline about the ex-wife, now a lesbian, who is bravely dying of cancer. Good--if overly earnest--performances by a talented cast (Alan Rickman, Natasha Richardson, Rachel Griffiths, Josh Hartnett) and regular flashes of wit can't save the movie from its uneasy combination of adorably quirky townsfolk and unnecessarily somber moments that make it feel like some kind of vague message movie. Not a necessary purchase. (R. Blackwelder)