'Blow Dry' a crowd-pleasing comedy with holding power

When a movie is finally released after sitting on a shelf for more than a year, nine times out of 10 it's a first-class stinkeroo. Happily, "Blow Dry" is a notable exception to this rule.

MOVIE REVIEW

BLOW DRY

DIRECTOR: Paddy Breathnach

CAST: Alan Rickman, Natasha Richardson, Rachel Griffiths, Rachael Leigh Cook,

Josh Hartnett, Bill Nighy

RUNNING TIME: 105 minutes

RATING: R, for a few flashes of female nudity

WHERE: Meridian 16, Seven Gables

GRADE: B+

It's hard to figure the studio's hesitancy here, especially with such a strong cast. Possibly it's because several other recent films with a hairdressing theme have not performed well.

And Miramax apparently still has no confidence in its film, because it's being more or less dumped on the market with little fanfare and a midweek opening -- often the kiss of death for a specialty film.

Yet despite a familiar premise, the film is a real crowd-pleaser and one of the more successful of the recent wave of '50s-style, small-town British comedies in the wake of "The Full Monty."

In fact, the script is by Simon Beaufoy, the writer of "Monty," and its story is about another working-class Midlands town in social upheaval -- in this case from the invasion of a national hairdressing competition.

The central figure is a local barber (Alan Rickman) who was once a star competitive hairdresser but dropped out more than a decade ago when his wife (Natasha Richardson) ran off with his model (Rachel Griffiths).

But the ex-wife, also a hairdresser and now critically ill with cancer, and his hairdresser son (Josh Hartnett) now both want the ruptured family to enter the competition as a single contender.

It's pretty much a formula piece from here, but director Paddy Breathnach ("I Went Down") always puts his emphasis less in the "Rocky" beats (though they're all there) than in his character relationships.

And if his movie starts out to be a satire of the extravagance and silliness of competitive hairstyling, it's quickly seduced by the dazzle and showmanship, and becomes a kind of tribute to its flamboyance.

Beaufoy's script is witty and revealing and genuinely loves its characters and their Yorkshire eccentricities; and Breathnach's directorial touch is gentle, always in control and rarely after the cheap laughs.

The cast -- Richardson, Griffiths, Hartnett, supermodel Heidi Klum, Bill Nighy (as a crooked competitor) and Rachael Leigh Cook (as his Juliet of a daughter) -- could hardly be more charming, or more authentic.

Especially memorable is Rickman, whose healing is conveyed with enormous delicacy, and is unusually moving for a film this light. It's the kind of subtle work that never wins an Oscar, but it's film acting at its very best.

P-I movie critic William Arnold can be reached at 206-448-8185 or williamarnold@seattle-pi.com.