The tagline is A Cut Above, and having seen the first one, I will disclose right now that it certainly is a lot better than the first. Yet being lengths better than Nora's Hair Salon, still doesn't make for a genuinely good movie, but fast approaching the acceptable. I say, if they keep improving the quality like this, then by Nora's Hair Salon 3 I might actually have an upside down frown ... too positive? Better make that Nora's Hair Salon 13.
But good and bad things, well let's start with the good.
If IMDb was so superficial as to make a list of combined hotness in a movie, no doubt this would get a very high ranking. There is a plethora of sexy in this movie, due to the level of attractiveness spearheaded by Tatyana Ali and Stacy Dash, but also kickers in Christine Carlo and Brandi Burnside (god daughter of Bobby Brown... I wonder how she got the part?). Too bad acting isn't determined via attractiveness, but it has to be said that neither Tatyana Ali nor Stacy Dash suffer from bad acting. Actually... it's not that bad.
I think to genuinely appreciate this movie, you have to have seen the first. If you have, you will automatically become delighted how much better this is in comparison. The first was by all means one of the worst movies ever made, whereas this one steps everything up a notch in a positive direction. Let's not get carried away, it's not good no doubt about that, but I didn't hate it. I felt it was bearable to watch, and there was even two times I almost chuckled.
Now the bad things, brace yourselves.
Bobby Brown ... oh, Bobby Brown. Bobby Brown is portrayed as the man in the business, with the fame and money. I suppose the most pimp thing he is on record as having done, is turning Whitney Houston into a crack addict and deleting her career. So that would be the bad kind of pimp, and not the Jay-Z "brush that dirt of your shoulders" kind of pimp. He has some unnecessary rapping, which he sucks at, and then there are the times he has screen time for acting, which he also sucks at. In conclusion Bobby Brown sucks in this movie. To tell you the truth, I wasn't a fan of Bobby Brown before, and this movie didn't give me even the slightest reason to become one.
As mentioned before, the acting in general isn't going to win any awards soon, yet doesn't mean that it's not rare to see worse acting, and as usual light years better than the first.
I suppose a movie needs to be categorized in a genre, this is why this is labeled a comedy. Some may argue that struggling to be funny even once, let alone twice, it's a gross case of mislabeling. Then again, what else would you call it? I'm sure no label would actually make it better. Another thing, which is in fact funny, is that for a movie using the word "drama" ever so often, it surprisingly lacks any itself. It's predictable and the various attempts of story lining some drama and adding a little suspense, proves a miserable failure. You could walk out on this movie from the the first second to the 80th minute and 24th second, and not feel you are somehow missing out or wanting to see how it ends.
Having seen the first two Nora's Hairsalon, and complaining about them - you bet I'll see the third too, when it comes out. Heck, this is so much fun, maybe I'll even fund it, just to have something to complain about. May I suggest calling it: Nora's Hairsalon 3: The Extension (now wasn't that a clever pun?)
