Going to several awful movies every week is not a problem; the really bad ones at least give you something to write about. It's the mediocre movies that provide the real challenge because there are only so many ways to say that there's nothing especially good or horrible. I often think of just writing the line attributed to Abraham Lincoln: "For those who like this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing they like."

It's a challenge to write an interesting review of a not-so-interesting film. So you'll have to forgive us if in our efforts to find some new way to say that a movie is so-so, and that usually means adapting the vocabulary of the movie's setting to provide an apt metaphor (or a groaner of a pun). In the case of Beauty[/url] Shop, the hairdressing metaphors proved impossible to resist. At least two critics declared that the movie "doesn't cut it."

Bruce[/url] Westabrook, Houston Chronicle: Beauty Shop needs highlights and a trim.

Nick[/url] Schager, Slant Magazine: About as fresh as a Jeri curl.

Bill[/url] Muller, Arizona Republic: Any humor left in the Barbershop series is limited to a few stray clippings on the floor.

Dallas[/url] Morning News: Lacking Barbershop’s cutting edge, Beauty Shop is a fluff job.

And in[/url] my review: As synthetic as cut-rate hair extensions...it's time for this series to get a makeover.