Blow Dry

Blow Dry is a British film starring Alan Rickman.

The British Haircutting Championship will be held in the small Northern town of Keighley in 1999. The mayor is proud of this, but at first no one else in town seems to care...

As it happens, this town is home to not one but two of the greatest hairstylists in Britain. Phil, played by Alan Rickman, is running a basic barbershop with his teenage son; he left the competition circuit ten years ago and says he was in it ten years too long. The other is his ex-wife, played by Natasha Richardson, who left him for his model Sandra. They are running another salon called A Cut Above. Phil and Shelley have been divorced for ten years...

Meanwhile, the hotels are filling up. Teams from across Britain are piling in one by one with their impractically finicky models and styles. One team in particular is led by the Obviously Evil Raymond Robertson, an old rival of Phil's. His model, Christine, is also his estranged daughter visiting from America. She is a sweet girl with delusions of being a colorist.

The mayor of Keighley realizes abruptly that, while the town is hosting the national championship for Hairstyling, and while it is home for one of Britain's greatest hairstylists ever, there is no local team. The ex wants to enter because she has terminal cancer (though she divulges that on a strictly need-to-know basis) and might not get another chance; but Phil refuses. At first, his son also declines, since he will be fired if he enters; but then he learns Christine is competing, and so he changes his mind. A Cut Above has a team just before the entry deadline.

What follows is a surprisingly exciting and bloodthirsty hairstyling competition, with some heartwarming moments.


 * Aliens in Cardiff: High-class British hairstyling in the small town of Keighley.
 * Cannot Spit It Out
 * Chekhov's Gunman: The model who left her highlights in too long ends up becoming
 * Defector From Decadence: Christina.
 * Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat
 * Fake Brit: Josh Hartnett (Bryan)'s ludicrous attempt at a Yorkshire accent.
 * Forgotten First Meeting: Brian Allen and Christina Roberts. They knew each other as very young children because their fathers were business partners. But then the partnership broke up, Christina's parents divorced (and she went to live with her mother in Michigan), Brian's parents divorced and he moved in with his dad in York, and the two lost touch with each other for twenty years. Cue the events of the film...
 * Hair Tropes: Of course.
 * Elderly Blue Haired Lady: The woman at the bed & breakfast.
 * Hair Decorations: Almost every female contestant.
 * Godiva Hair: Several contestants.
 * Horned Hairdo: Several contestants.
 * Important Haircut: Well technically every haircut int he movie is important, but the biggest one plot-wise is
 * Improbable Hairstyle turned Up to Eleven.
 * Multicolored Hair: The woman who left her highlights in too long, making her hair blonde and green.
 * Short Haired Hottie: Several of the models,
 * You Gotta Have Yellow, Green, White, or Pink Hair Hanging Above Your Head And Done Up In A Halo, Sprouting Swans And A Miniature Wedding Cake, Or Twisted Into A Silver Tree With Nine Litres Of Hairspray.
 * Hoist by His Own Petard: Raymond keeps trying to cheat, but Christina disagrees and refuses to smile in the Hair By Night challenge, and later
 * Hometown Hero: Phil,
 * I Choose to Stay:
 * Jumped At the Call: Bryan.
 * Power of Friendship
 * Refused the Call: Phil.
 * Serious Business: Never tell somebody it's just hair.
 * Worthy Opponent: Phil and Ray. Acknowledged after the winner is announced with a nod from the loser.