The Beautician and the Beast (1997)

Disturbing yet enthralling

A different way of telling a story

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

A half hour sitcom stretched out to over 90 minutes repeats many of its stories even though the characters and most of the cast are different. For six years, Fran Drescher made some people cringe but many laugh with her deliciously nasal accent as Fran Fine, the hairdresser who turned to selling beauty products and ended up becoming the nanny to the three children of a successful and dashing widowed Broadway producer. Charles Shaugnessy was always charming and commanding as the somewhat stuffy Maxwell Sheffield, but in his place here, we have Timothy Dalton as the widowed dictator like president of a tiny Russian like country who has four children who are in desperate need of help since their father tends to neglect them. There is a Niles like assistant who becomes Fran's confidante, a male version of the C.C. Babcock character, and a variety of Jewish character actors playing Fran's family and neighbors.There's also the gay sensibility, a show queen like atmosphere that has Fran bringing up "West Side Story" to her four charges, posing like Eva Peron out on the president's palace balcony (to major cheers) and obvious connections to "The King and I" and "The Sound of Music". In her beauty school class, a stereotypical gay man makes flip comments and a pass at the black fireman who rescues Fran when his mistake in class causes her school to burn down. For some reason, there are lab rats, raccoons and snakes, a visual gag that makes no sense. Veteran actors Michael Lerner and Phyllis Newman play Fran's parents, with Newman obviously playing a variation of Sylvia Fine, even more clinging to her daughter with the presence of her umbilical cord in Newman's purse! Certainly, there are some amusing moments, but I'm sure reviews of this pointing out the gay sensibilities turned some viewers off, especially some gay men who found the stereotypes too over the top. A massage scene with Drescher and Dalton is very similar to a gag on "The Nanny" when Fran, posing as a nurse, had to "shave" Mr. Sheffield. Here, Dalton confuses her with the male masseuse and demands a buttocks massage that shows Fran both horrified and turned on. This shows little trust by the writers in giving Fran a different identity and set-up, with the oldest daughter in the film far too close to "The Nanny's" Maggie, and an insecure younger daughter dealing with weight issues just like Gracie dealt with other psychological issues on "The Nanny". Dalton's character lacks the subtle charms of Shaugnessy, coming off brutal in scenes that are straight out of Mrs. Anna's declaration to Yul Brynnur's king that he was indeed a barbarian. The only thing this is missing is an abbey full of nuns who help Drescher and Dalton escape from obvious traitors who want to oust Dalton and take over the country.

After looking at some of the scores people gave this movie I honestly didn't think it would amount to much. However, after actually watching it I found it to be surprisingly good. Fran Drescher plays "Joy Miller" who is a beautician in New York City. Timothy Dalton is "Boris Pochenko", a brutal tyrant of a small Eastern European country (Slovetzia) who has mistakenly hired Joy to teach his four children. His Prime Minister, "Leonid Kleist" (played by Patrick Malahide), insures that Boris rules with an iron fist. Joy arrives and becomes instrumental in introducing much needed change. More importantly though, she changes Boris for the better as well. Now, while this plot is extremely predictable, the comedy is anything but that as there are many surprises written into the script that are simply hilarious and I think the writer (Todd Graff) deserves a lot of credit for this. Likewise, even though Fran Drescher was nominated for a "Razzie Award" for her performance, I can honestly say that it was totally undeserved. I found her performance to be both witty and refreshing. I also liked the way she and Timothy Dalton worked so well together. The "massage scene" in particular was especially amusing. In closing, I thought this was a thoroughly enjoyable movie and well worth the time spent.

Now what to make of this movie. I have only watched five minutes of the pilot episode of the nanny, as well as the closing minutes of a number of episodes and have decided that I don't particularly like it. The Beautician and the Beast is basically the Nanny made into a movie, with a few things altered. She isn't sacked from a beauty parlour, but is brought into the home of a really rich man (actually an Eastern European dictator) as a nanny. The movie is quite funny in parts but a really do not think much of Fran Dresure (sp?), especially how I heard the comment that her character in this movie is exactly the same as her character in the nanny.This movie makes numerous assumptions about 'decadent American society' in which it destroys. Rather it attacks the eastern European dictatorship and makes America look like a wonderful place. The promiscuous American is destroyed with Fran's character: she is not interested in guys until the right one comes along, and it is obvious that it was going to be Pochenko (Timothy Dalton), and as the movie draws to the close the idealistic Hollywood ideal of love is emphasised in the most sickening way.The movie blatantly has a go at how these communist nations allegedly altered history to suit themselves. Stalin allegedly did this to make him look like he was really close to Lenin when he was not. America subtly does this with their claims that World War 1 started in 1917 and World War II begins in 1942, the years they became involved in both wars. This is done more as a joke than as an attack, because now communist has gone and everybody can live happily in the marvelous freedom that a democracy brings. Yet Fran is extremely cynical about democratic politicians as she quotes "they're politicians, you can't trust them." Beautician and the Beast is really a remake of Sound of Music with the music replaced with comedy. The movie blatantly steals from the original with the clothes made out of sheets. There are a lot of similarities, a nanny coming in to take care of a very powerful man's children. In Sound of Music he was a Nazi commander while in this movie he is a communist dictator.The last interesting thing to note is when Pochenko is addressing the peasants from a balcony. They scream and cheer at his words. He then walks into the building and Joy Miller (Fran Desure) walks out and thrusts her arms into the air and the crowd cheers. This strikes Pochenko with the fact that it is not him that they cheer, but rather anybody who stands there. Fear is thrust onto people whereas respect is earned.

I have never been able to watch Fran Drescher for any length of time. That being said, this movie surprised me. I actually watched it and enjoyed it. Once I figured out what it was, I didn't have any great expectations. This movie is not meant to be earth shattering but merely a pleasant diversion. That it was. Fran actually did some acting at times. Of course, I understand that this is mostly an extension of "The Nanny" but I never watched the show all the way through so I wasn't making comparisons. It had some funny moments and the Yuri character was very enjoyable. All in all, I enjoyed the movie and would recommend it for anyone who would like a pleasant diversion and not be forced to think a lot.