Good story, Not enough for a whole film

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

What the heck?? I watched this movie and I found it to be funny, witty, and decently balanced. Why so many people dumped on it and rated it so low is beyond me. The histrionics between the two gay lovers was pretty funny. Tatiana Ali's character got my applause when she told off that abusing user of a pimp. What they did to the thug buddy after Miss Nora punches his lights out and they dress him REALLY gay and cross dressing then dump him at a Santa Monica Blvd. club is hilarious. When Nora kicks off and leaves the house to Ming and the salon equally to the stylists I guess they did to set up the sequel where Stacy Dash ends up owning half of it instead the stylists owning it all.

i was pleasantly surprised at this film.it is well acted, and a great film to watch.it is a tribute to the spirit of the common person, who works and toils every day without fail.the actress' are very very believable in their roles, and successfully convey the characters. the story line is well conceived, and portrayed. everyone knows a nora, and can relate to her.i highly recommend this film to everyone who wants good clean comedic entertainment, along with a very good story about the human spirit, of the common people.

Well we rented this movie last night and I must say that we found it a very pleasant surprise. It was not the best movie that we have ever seen. BUT, it was not the worst ever. Can't remember if it had ever been released to the movie houses because I never heard of it till we got to the video store.I believe that based on their budget, they created a nice little gem. Was very disappointed to see Bobby Brown in the flick. However, I must give the producers credit to casting him, as the character it is alleged that he is in real life, a woman beater.I will recommend this flick to others.

It doesn't seem possible but someone actually made an unfunny film with Jenifer Lewis! I came to 'Nora's Hair Salon' after seeing Lewis in the howling funny 'Jackie's Back,' hoping to see more of her expert comic timing and one-of-a-kind line deliveries. She is a true under-appreciated talent and the thought of her playing the owner of a Los Angeles beauty salon (a female version of 'Barbershop' I assumed) seemed a sure fire hit.Well I couldn't have been more wrong. It was somebody's bright idea to cast Lewis in a 'heartwarming' role playing nursemaid to a bunch of hairdressers who are given the lion share of so-called funny lines. Jenifer Lewis is essentially the straight man to a small troupe of painfully untalented actors representing the employees of her hair salon.What was the director thinking? To take the most talented member of the cast and have her sit and merely react as some of Los Angeles' least talented African Americans poorly deliver some of the weakest comedy dialog uttered since 'The Jeffersons' were still on the air is nothing short of a crime!It seems that the director and writer can't differentiate between character and caricature and so throughout 'Nora's hair Salon' you are given one stereotype parading in front of you after another, reciting lines in a vacuum , like they never had a full rehearsal together. It's impossible to care for any of them because they never register as even remotely human.Though I liked what the film tried to do and its overall good nature and theme, that however doesn't excuse its slapped together sloppiness. And don't blame it on the budget. Plenty of small budget films demonstrate lots of ingenuity and talent. This one is like Amateur Night and gives small independent films a bad name.Can't recommend the film except for the scene (as one commentary already stated) when a character suffers a heart attack and utters a phrase that had me howling for the only time in the entire film. By the way, the director should have just released a film of the outtakes that show over the closing credits. These few minutes are better than anything that precedes them. Lastly, there is a very sad 'making of' featurette on the DVD where we discover that the writer responsible for this mess is one of the actors who is so terrible in the film. To see him talk about his script, blissfully unaware of its derivative triteness, is to know what it is to cringe. Rent 'Car Wash' to see how this kind of material should be handled.