Blow Dry missing storyline
by Ashley Clark, entertainment editor

    One thing Paddy Breathnach’s Blow Dry definitely has going for it is its unique, uncharted and somewhat unorganized plot line.

    The intent was apparently to combine peppy teen flicks with deep, romantic dramas to create a new way of making movies. Unfortunately, it left viewers with their respective preferences wanting more of one plot and less of the other.

    Plot number one finds the small working class city of Keighley being granted the extraordinary honor of playing host to the National Hair Championships, a hairstyling contest that brings out the best and worst in its participants. Slightly amusing, the contest consists of three different categories over which several salons stress and strategize.

    Comparable to the nature of Drop Dead Gorgeous, this plot line is complete with the bizarre lengths participants will go to feed their obsession with winning the competition.

    Several comedic moments and the slapstick characters featured could have made up an entire bubble-gum teenybopper two-hour film with more details. Competing in the NHC is Phil, played by Alan Rickman, a local hairdresser once known for his multiple winnings in past competitions. However, this time Phil is uninterested in competing, and his his ex-wife, Shelley, must convince him to enter.

    This situation brings us into plot number two and adding the element of the deep romantic drama. Phil’s ex-wife is also an ex-model who unexpectedly left him one day with another model to set up a rival salon. To get totally deep, the two models are now romantically involved and ex-wife, Shelley, played by Natasha Richardson, is dying of cancer.

    This particular plot, too, could have survived on its own. The acting between Richardson and Rachel Griffiths is superb, and their intimate scenes are tasteful and moving.

    But wait, there’s more. Shelley left behind a son. Brian, played by Josh Hartnett, is also a hairstylist in training. Rachel Leigh Cook enters the picture as Catherine, the rival salon's daughter and the vortex for all these story lines.

    Blow Dry’s rival offspring Catherine and Josh take an interest in one another, stirring up chaos between families and adding a delightful dose of romantic comedy.

    Cinematography and production add the missing element of “foreign film” in that the effects are simple, film lens is grainy and the film feels hollow in several points.

    Mix it all together, and the overall results are undetermined as Blow Dry becomes a series of good ideas that were never fully carried out.