Blow Dry

Like THE BIG TEASE (2000), this U.K. comedy/drama gets its easy laughs from the baroque excesses of competitive hairdressing. But for its warm and gooey center, it reaches for the mix of charming eccentricity and stiff upper lip-dom that powered sentimental hits like BRASSED OFF, WAKING NED DEVINE, SAVING GRACE and THE FULL MONTY (an earlier effort by scripter Simon Beaufoy). There's not much going on in the small Yorkshire town of Keighley until the British National Hairdressing Championship comes to town — in a swirl of scissors and glittering coiffures. At first, however, it appears Keighley itself won't be represented in competition, even though not one, but ...