Thursday, April 5, 2012

The Village Barbershop

Indie film starring John Ratzenberger (from Cheers fame) as an aging barber in a small town. Art’s business isn’t doing so well, partly due to the recent death of his business partner as well as his own curmudgeonly and chauvinistic personality. When a young woman, Gloria (Shelly Cole), comes to town needing to escape her old life, she wrangles her way into Art’s life by becoming his new partner--slightly modernizing his barbershop, defending him against a seedy real estate agent, and eventually warming Art’s heart; the two opposites finally become friends.

The basic blueprints of the characters are nothing new but it was nice to see Ratzenberger in a starring role, although it is not far away from cranky guys he’s played before. Shelly Cole as Gloria plays it a little antagonistic but the film gave her some personal crises to overcome and explain her behavior, again it’s been played before. Other characters are more broadly drawn (customers, real estate agent, bad boyfriend) and the show throws in a new (nice) boyfriend in for Gloria as expected. Not too much that is original, but an effective indie dramedy.

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