THE BEAUTICIAN & THE BEAST

Alcohol/ Drugs	Blood/Gore	Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude	Frightening/ Tense Scenes	Guns/ Weapons
Minor	Minor	Mild	None	Minor

Imitative Behavior	Jump Scenes	Music (Scary/Tense)	Music (Inappropriate)	Profanity
Mild	None	None	None	Minor

Sex/ Nudity	Smoking	Tense Family Scenes	Topics To Talk About	Violence
Mild	Mild	Mild	Minor	Minor

QUICK TAKE:: Comedy: A beautician is mistakenly hired as the tutor for a dictator's children.

PLOT:: Joy Miller (FRAN DRESCHER) is a New York beautician who teaches beauty school. When she appears in the paper named as a "heroic teacher," "Ira" Grushinsky (IAN MCNEICE), the assistant to an eastern European dictator, mistakenly hires her to tutor the children of Boris Pochenko (TIMOTHY DALTON), the domineering tyrant. Joy bluffs her way through instructing the kids, including older son Karl (ADAM LAVORGNA) and teenage daughter Katrina (LISA JAKUB) who's secretly dating Alex, a young rebellion leader. Soon, Joy's down-to-earth, honest approach begins to wear away at Boris' toughness and a budding romance blossoms between them. From then on, they must deal with the leader's changing ways and also with Prime Minister Kleist (PATRICK MALAHIDE), who doesn't like what Joy's done and plots on taking over the government.

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?: If they're fans of Drescher (TV's "The Nanny"), Dalton (a former James Bond), or are looking for a romantic comedy, they just might.

CAST AS ROLE MODELS:: FRAN DRESCHER plays a woman whose honesty melts a tyrant's cold heart but also gets her into trouble occasionally.
TIMOTHY DALTON plays a strict dictator whose ways scare his children and keep his people in fear. He does, however, eventually change his ways.; TIMOTHY DALTON plays a strict dictator whose ways scare his children and keep his people in fear. He does, however, eventually change his ways.

CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO

HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE

OUR TAKE: 7 out of 10: Every once in a while, a film will come along that some people will love and others will hate. This is one of those films. Some people will see it as annoyingly cute, derivative of other similar films, and will quickly tire of Drescher’s squeaky New York accent. Others will find this to be a lightweight, charming screwball comedy. We fall into the latter group. Liberally taking the "Beauty and the Beast" story and throwing in a little "Sound of Music" and the "King and I" (without the musical numbers), this movie concocts a romantic comedy that you just can’t help yourself from smiling about. While it plays loosely with the "Beast" story (she changing him into a decent person), the movie’s really a vehicle to showcase Drescher’s comedic timing and natural charm, both of which are in abundance here. Dalton does a fine job playing against his normal debonair type, giving his character a gruff foundation that can then be chipped away by Drescher. The movie certainly won't be remembered years from now, but it's definitely an enjoyable, feel good diversion that will keep you smiling for hours. We give this film a 7 out of 10.

OUR WORD TO PARENTS:: There's not a great deal to object to in this film. There's just a little sexual talk and a mild sensual massage that earned this film its PG rating. Profanity isn't any worse than what you'd hear on prime time TV, and none of the categories contain anything that's too bad. Some kids may see their parents being like Boris (a stern disciplinarian who's always saying no), but since he eventually turns into an okay character, this isn't too big of an issue. Still, the question of what's appropriate for your kids rests with you, so we suggest that you read through the scene listings before making that decision.

ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE: People drink beer at an underground club.
A few people drink champagne (or wine) at a party.

DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE: Boris is rather stern with his children, staff and country. He forbids Katrina from seeing the rebel leader, and has already arranged her marriage without her consent.
Some viewers may find a comment about pictures of Newt Gingrich ("He’s the little kid who grew up on ‘Eight is Enough’") and of Jerry Falwell ("...and this is his boyfriend.") made by Joy as being in bad taste.
The prime minister signs executive orders using Boris’ signature without his knowledge or permission.

IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR: A student tries to put out a flaming wig with an aerosol can and creates a blow torch effect that causes the fire to spread.
Several cages animals are threatened by the fire and when Joy asks one of them to save the animals, he's frightened and says, "Burn, baby, burn."
Joy sprays hair dressing gel in Ira’s face when she thinks he’s trying to attack her.
Young rebels spray paint "x’s" over posters of Pechenko and then throws an egg at the limo that Joy’s riding in.
Phrases: "Her breath smells like something died farting in her mouth," "Screw up" and "Talk to the hand, because the ears aren’t listening" (said with a hand held up to someone's face).
Boris tells Joy about how when he was ten he had to kill a cow with just two sticks and a butter knife to prove that he was a man.

PROFANITY: 3 hells and 7 uses of "Oh my God," and 1 use each of "My God" and "Oh God" as exclamations.

SEX/NUDITY: Karl lustfully looks at Joy’s butt in her tight fitting pants.
Katrina says that she wants "Sex, sex, sex, sex!" to Joy, but we then learn that she thinks "sex" means holding hands and getting ice cream. Joy then tells her "those are the before and after parts, but we’ll talk about that later." Katrina also states that since Joy is a woman from the west, she is "promiscuous" (not understanding what that word means either).
Joy returns to her room to find Karl lying on her bed with his shirt open. He tells her that "there’s been one area of my education that’s been neglected and you are my teacher." He then tries to come on to her, but she flips him to the floor and we then learn that he was acting that way because he thought his father would expect him to.
Joy steps in as Boris’ masseuse and there are two brief glimpses of part of his bare butt. He then asks for the message to go down his back and for him (really her) to remove the towel covering his butt. He then wants his butt massaged, and while we don’t see anything, she gets into doing this and he lets out some pleasurable sounds (of getting a good massage — it’s not really sexual).
There’s a brief full glimpse of Boris’ youngest son (2 - 3 years old) running nude through a party.

SMOKING: A model smokes.
Joy tells her students that a beauty mole goes on the other side of the face to balance out the cigarette (in ads).
One of Joy’s student’s tries to hide the cigarette he’s smoking and causes the wig he’s working on to catch on fire.
People smoke at a club.

TENSE FAMILY SCENES: Boris and Katrina don’t see eye to eye about her boyfriend, the rebel leader. There are several scenes where they argue over this issue.
It’s briefly mentioned that the kids’ mother died and the youngest boy says that he doesn’t remember her.

TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT: Foreign countries and their customs (such as arranged marriages).

VIOLENCE: Joy flips Karl to the floor after he tries to come on to her.
Guards forcibly remove a young rebel leader from his meeting.

Reviewed February 3, 1997

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