Review of Shampoo (1975) by Priyu K — 25 Jul 2009

Had it not been for the decade's timing, Shampoo would've ended up on the reject pile. But this movie conveniently arrived right dab smack in the middle of the Movie Brat Generation when guys like Spielberg and Scorsese were plowing through Hollywood with raw and unconventional movies that broke the mold.

But there's nothing funny about this "sex comedy", casting Warren Beatty's likable cad of a hairdresser who aspires to open up his own salon in the sexual revolution era of L.A. It just so happens that Beatty's character is a male ho who has his share of women, given that he's got a girlfriend and he's sleeping with a wealthy businessman's wife, the businessman's mistress and the businessman's daughter. But this wildly overrated movie is far less funnier than it actually makes itself out to be, making you sense that the critics of that era jumped on the bandwagon by calling it a bold and daring work. But what I saw was a movie that had me waiting and waiting to see when the comedy would actually happen. The story is flat and subpar, given to a lifeless narrative that plods along like a slug and concludes with a crappy ending.

If people tell you this movie is funny, they don't know comedy.