The Big Tease Review
by Michael Dequina (twotrey AT juno DOT com)February 4th, 2000
_The_Big_Tease_ (R) *** (out of ****)
Watching the opening moments of _The_Big_Tease_, my heart immediately sank. Here was another comedy using the much-exhausted mock documentary format (last used, to ill effect, in _Drop_Dead_Gorgeous_) only to frequently break its rules--as in, how the heck did they get all these angles with one camera? Furthermore, director Kevin Allen was not executing the premise--Scottish hairdresser Crawford Mackenzie (Craig Ferguson, who also co-wrote) comes to Los Angeles for the premier hairdressing competition, "the Platinum Scissors"--beyond the obvious: broad, cutesy, and obvious fish-out-of-water gags.
Then a strange thing happened from the 25-minute mark: I began to be charmed by this film. The key to the big turn is that Allen, Ferguson, and his writing collaborator Sacha Gervasi stop trying so hard to be outrageously funny and trust the absurdity of the story to speak for itself--resulting in some golden comic moments, such as one where Crawford wins over a snooty publicist to the stars (Frances Fisher) by identifying her entire hair care regimen with a simple glance. _The_Big_Tease_ is far from original--it fits squarely in the _Full_Monty_ tradition of feel-good comedy from the British Isles--but it gets the predictable job done.
Michael Dequina
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