Blow Dry (2001)

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

The acting in this movie is really good.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

I've seen this film probably four or five times, and I love it more each time. I sought out Blow Dry because I love Bill Nighy, Alan Rickman and the late, great Natasha Richardson ... but it took me ages to find the DVD because it had these two random American kids on the cover.I was puzzled because Richardson, Rickman and Nighy had obviously been relegated to sub-plot which seemed incredible, but I watched it anyway. In the event, the marketing became only more baffling. I can only assume that the publicists played on Josh Hartnett and Rachael Leigh Cook for the American market, but in doing so they must have put off an awful lot of people like me - and surely Richardson at least carried plenty of weight in the US? And Nighy and Rickman are hardly unknowns!Anyway, now that I've found it in spite of the marketing people totally missing the point, I can review it. Blow Dry is whimsical, gentle and funny - and I mean that in the best possible way. It's a British comedy in the best tradition, understated, warm and centred solidly in the very ordinary lives of very ordinary people.Bill Nighy is predictably surreal and steals every scene he's in, but handles his role as the devious, dastardly but ultimately vulnerable and really quite likable villain of the piece very well. Alan Rickman struggles a little to portray his character's bitterness and hostility at first, but as the character warms up he comes into his own. Given his character's back story it must have been something of a task both for Rickman and for the writers to avoid making him utterly pitiable, but they managed it and Phil comes out the hero, still hurting but beginning to move forward with life in totally non-pathetic fashion.The screen belongs, though, to Natasha Richardson. The relationship between Shelley, played by Richardson, and Sandra is brilliant; totally convincing but not in any way more of an issue than it should be. There's a brief moment of surprise when you realise they're a couple, but it's written and played so well that you very quickly accept it and it becomes simply part of the story. Richardson's balancing act between pathos and comedy is finely-tuned and very admirable; the fact that she's dying is never forgotten, but neither is it allowed to overshadow the plot or stifle the comedy. For one of the best examples I have ever seen of good, simple writing skilfully delivered, watch Richardson's scene with the doctor in which her character learns she is terminal; it should not be possible to be that sad and yet funny at the same time!My one complaint with this film is the casting of Josh Hartnett as Phil and Shelley's son, Brian. Rachael Leigh Cook is non-descript and suffers from being on the same screen as Bill Nighy, but at least they just let her be American even if she was a strange choice in the first place. Josh Hartnett, meanwhile, should never have been allowed anywhere near this film, and all the line-cutting in the world (and you get the impression they cut as much as they could get away with) can't prevent him from ruining what should have been some of the finest scenes in the film. The scene about halfway through in which Richardson's character reveals to Phil and Brian that she has cancer and is dying should have been a deeply moving showcase for the talents of Richardson and Rickman, but the viewer is thrown completely out of the moment by Hartnett's utterly appalling trampling of the Yorkshire accent - which, in spite of its awfulness, still seems to have been absorbing enough to prevent him from actually acting at the same time.Aside from this utterly bewildering casting choice, Blow Dry is a fantastic film - I could rave about it even longer, but your time would be better spent just watching it.

now i'm not going to say this film is terrible but its not good in the slightest. with it being rated 6.0 on this site makes me laugh. the film is basically about a hair dressing competition in england, a little dismal i know.the only thing stopping me rating it so low is the cast, even though they didn't do a good job its nice to see them all in one film. Josh Hartnett (Lucky Number Slevin, Sin City, 30 Days Of Night, Pearl Harbor and Wicker Park) is a brilliant actor but has an odd accent in this. Alan Rickman (Dogma, Die Hard and the Harry Potter films) is also a fantastic actor but doesn't really pull off being an English hair dresser. Rachael Leigh Cook (Antitrust, Josie And The Pussycats) Bill Nighy (The boat That Rocked, Underworld, Shaun Of The Dead) Warren Clarke (Clockwork Orange, I.D.) and Rachel Griffiths (Six Feet Under) are also in the film. so if there was any film with a cast like that you would definitely give it a second look. just too bad the film was poorly made and quite tiring to watch.i would like to say that i'd recommend this to girls as it is sort of a chick flick but i wouldn't wanna give them false hopes on seeing a good film.......... 3.6/10..........j.d Seaton

Josh Hartnett's accent really awful but not quite as bad as Natasha's. Whatever possessed them to put the poor lad into this bag of nothingness. Oh Natasha! I can't remember seeing her in anything noteworthy. One of the most unoriginal ideas for a film. Was it a comedy? Why wasn't it funny? Was it a drama? Why did they fill it with actors who couldn't get work on a daytime soap? A waste of everyone's time and, in some cases, talent. One that Peter Kay seems to keep quiet about which is unusual. To confess I only watched it to see if I could recognize any of the locations and they were pretty much the most noteworthy things in there.

Like the Full Monty, this is a story where real human tragedy is inevitable. And we know, from the very start.Yet living triumphs over dying. Not content to make her exit quietly, Natasha Richardson's character drives those around her into one great creative effort, in which each gives of their very best.Wonderful, wonderful moments abound in this movie, but the unforgettable moment for me is Natasha Richardson's acting when she sees the transformation of her lover at the hands of her ex-husband. She is absolutely overwhelmed by what she sees, and so, indeed, is the viewer.There is another magic scene in which artist and model, drawn together by their love for the same woman, suddenly rediscover their old intimacy.