Good Hair 2009

A.O. Scott, At the Movies: This movie just does take what seems like a kind of a superficial topic and really does go into it with great depth. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Rock takes his Good Hair job as a documentarian seriously enough to be interesting, but not so seriously that the film groans with earnestness. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: It's rich food for thought, though you wonder why little attention is given to the idea that perhaps some women relax their hair because it's easier to style that way, or that elaborate attention to hair is hardly exclusive to black women. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: In chronicling the permutations of black hair, the filmmaker ends up making a breezy statement on the universality of narcissism. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: If you arrive at Good Hair never having thought about the complexities of black hair, bring a notebook. If you are a black woman wearing a weave, bring a tissue. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: An amusing, poignant and surprisingly candid look at the topic with a disarming Rock coaxing answers and opinions from an eclectic cross section of African Americans. Read more

Chicago Reader: A wonderfully insightful and entertaining, yet remarkably serious, documentary about African American hair culture. Read more

Jesse Washington, Associated Press: Rock sheds new light on this old story through a poignant mix of interviews, investigation and his trademark satire. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Full of sweetly sardonic observations, the docu-comedy is one of the funniest movies of the year. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Chris Rock's deeply funny and very serious documentary about the African-American obsession with straightened tresses. Read more

Amy Nicholson, I.E. Weekly: Who defines good? This doc never quite finds the source, but it sure shows us the damage it's done to wallets, egos and follicles. Read more

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: Rock takes aim at the truth and humor of this potent cultural question with a sharp wit and lively curiousity, even if he doesn't pursue vigorously enough its uglier side. Read more

Bob Mondello, NPR: Part of the fun here is the way our narrator gets at complicated questions in his characteristically glib way. ... [But] real answers will have to be teased out elsewhere. Good Hair isn't selling anything but a good time. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Whether you have good hair or not, there's plenty to appreciate in Chris Rock's rollicking documentary about what goes on when African-American women hit the salon. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: I've never been much of a Chris Rock fan, but I was riveted by the on-screen interviews he conducts with celebrities like Nia Long and Al Sharpton, as well as regular folk, to explore African-American women's very complicated relationship with their hair. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Scattered as it sometimes seems, Good Hair is a real eye-opener... Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Good Hair is certainly no arid anthropological study. Rock's queries are loose and quippy, but his instincts are as sharp as an investigative journalist's. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: [Rock] conveys a lot of information, but also some unfortunate opinions and misleading facts. That doesn't mean the movie isn't warm, funny and entertaining. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: Chris Rock's Good Hair is one of those rare documentaries that works on two seemingly incongruous levels at once: It's both social commentary and pure delight. Read more

Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: It's funny, clever and marginally educational. You can tell your friends you went to a documentary without having felt as if you saw one. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: The result is a pop documentary in the Morgan Spurlock mode, cheeky and smart without being too serious. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Morgan Spurlock, look lively. Sacha Baron Cohen, watch your back. Chris Rock's bright, wisecracking exposA (C) Good Hair is the mane event. Read more

Kevin C. Johnson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Some of this, a lot of this, is preaching to the choir. But it's still pretty compelling no matter what perspective you're coming from. Read more

Stephen Cole, Globe and Mail: The film succeeds as a vehicle for Rock's personality. Read more

Linda Barnard, Toronto Star: It's more TV special material that theatrical release. But thanks to Rock's laid-back humour, Good Hair is also good entertainment. Read more

Keith Uhlich, Time Out: Read more

Cath Clarke, Time Out: Rock fronts this informative rummage through the $9 billion US black hair industry in a style much like his stand-up comedy: hilarious, insightful and charming enough to let him get away with the flammable stuff. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Rock is not only funny, he's an affable and intelligent host in a documentary that is accessible, breezy and highly informative. Read more

Justin Chang, Variety: Good Hair is a raucous and rigorous inquiry into the subject of African-American hair -- the stigmas, the secrets, the shocking price of maintenance -- that gets at universal but rarely discussed truths about black femininity. Read more

Melissa Anderson, Village Voice: [A] breezy, superficial doc. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: Good Hair, directed by longtime Rock collaborator Jeff Stilson, is such a rollicking, thoroughly entertaining ride that it's easy to take for granted just how easy Rock makes it look. Read more