Miss Shampoo

To live and dye in Taiwan

If you created a weave out of a screwball rom-com and a gangster film with vulgar humor, you might end up with something like Miss Shampoo. Vivian Sung and Daniel Hong certainly gave it their all and they did make a strange but fitting couple. Hair warning, if you are looking for a sweet rom-com of opposites attracting, the humor is quite crude. And yes, there may be a few styling puns plugged in hair and there.

On a dark and stormy night, a wounded gangster stumbled into the shop where Fen was a shampooer. She managed to cover for Tai when the assassins barged in searching for him. Tai later returned with enormous gifts and had Fen cut his hair. Soon all the gangsters and those dependent on them were coming into the faltering shop to have her work on them. She was either a visionary or a terrible stylist as the cuts were often vibrant and bizarre. It took nearly half the movie for the two to finally hook up which was actually pretty funny as it included an introduction to her equally odd family. They didn’t have a problem with her dating a “hard working” gangster as long as he didn’t become scary and kill the family if they broke up. The gangster plot included finding the murderer of the previous boss, an urban renewal project with election ramifications, a lieutenant’s dissatisfaction with the direction of the gang, and lopping off fingers-so many fingers.

Daniel Hong was a good sport as was his gangster boss Tai. He wore several hideous wigs, including a bizarre bowl cut mullet, blonde dreadlocks, and a 1990’s ahjumma perm. Vivian Sung made for a perky shampooer with a strange vision for hairstyles. Tai had a soft side and Fen had a wild side which brought the couple closer together until the classic misunderstanding was inserted between them which would take time to straighten out. The uneven humor did have some highlights. There were unspoken dialogues that were quite funny---one between Tai and Fen’s mom and one between Tai and his lieutenant, Long Legs. Some of the humor was too crass for me and there were many crude sexual references. The director didn’t wave away the brutal lifestyle of a gangster and the permanent retirement plan for the bosses. A two-hour run time was also a drawback for this film. Few violent rom-coms can withstand 120 minutes of tangled plot progression. That’s not to say there weren’t entertaining moments and even touching ones because there were when the plot moved at a nice clip. The story even threw in an emotional twist near the end.

Miss Shampoo could be bubbly and bloody, hairlarious and cringe-worthy. The lovers both dealt with living on the fringe of society, unable to move ahead socially. While the movie gave supporting characters memorable moments it was too long and was in dire need of a cut. If you don’t mind lewd humor braided into a romance with a side of bobbed fingers this might be a movie worth giving a curl.

28 Dec 2023

Read More

Hilarious gangster comedy, but not for the faint of heart nor 'prudes'

A "bro" (gangster) escapes from his potential murderers into a hair salon. where a hair washer is practicing hair cuts.
After the local boss dies, the bro is quickly assigned as the new boss of the gang, and his task is to seek revenge for the killing of his former boss by an unknown group of Thai men.
The boss is head over heels with the hair washer, and decides she should now cut his hair, and everyone he knows, should too. As he tries to figure out who was behind the attack, he also tries to woo the hair washer turned stylist.

Negative points: the music doesn't stand out much unless for comedic effect, and the movie is a tad long.

Positive points:
Chemistry: You may not have thought it from the start, but man these two have great chemistry.

The sense of humor:
e.g. The hair washer does an awful job throughout most of the movie, which makes for a fun watch: everyone who cares about her, or who is related to the boss, will show up in the show with a god awful haircut, potentially in a hideous color Its a brilliant way to show who's on whose team.

Keeps it light: The gruesome parts are usually exaggerated for comedic effect, but I'd still not advise this movie to the faint of heart.
There were a lot of crude sexual references I thought were pretty hilarious in how unnecessary they were (intentionally written for sure). Although others mentioned this as a negative, I thought it was funny.

The dialogues between the gang members are hilarious at times. One of my favorite scenes is when (another) hair stylist tries to walk into the salon, but gangsters are in the way. They decide to make her learn everyone's names, and there's a definite reference to Monty Python in that scene, with a mandarin (?) twist.

The scene with the boss bro and the hair stylist at her place was hilarious, especially when he comes back later.

I did not notice a single actor who was awful; all of them did a great job keeping in character. I had literal tears streaming down my face.

All in all, I highly suggest watching this if you love adult humor and a decent plot.

PLEASE watch until the very last part of the credits, as it stays funny until the literal last second. They did the actress dirty haha.

Loved this movie so much!

Read More

Comedy Gold

Someone needs to give the script writers an award. This movie is comedy gold and the ratings should be higher! It has everything I want out of a gangster comedy.

Vivian Sung plays A-Fen, a really terrible hairdresser, and Hong Chun Feng plays Tai, a gang leader who stumbles into her salon during a gang fight. He falls head over heels and starts enlisting her salon services for himself and his gang brothers. There are so many bad haircuts! Tai tries to woo A-Fen (with hilarious help from her family), while also trying to solve a mystery about who attacked his gang.

While the film is fun, funny, and joyful, it's also vulgar and violent. Be prepared to laugh and squirm.

Make sure you watch past the initial credits because the movie isn't over yet!

Read More

Comedy Fell Flat for Me

My Rating: 6.5 / 10

Miss Shampoo starts with a fun premise: an average young hairdresser suddenly catches the attention of a gangster who becomes completely smitten with her. The beginning is actually pretty entertaining. Watching a nervous salon apprentice suddenly gain a flood of intimidating gangster customers because of one loyal admirer is a funny setup, and it makes for a strong opening.

Unfortunately, the movie never quite reaches the potential that premise promises. While it remains mildly entertaining throughout, the tone jumps awkwardly between romance, gangster violence, and goofy comedy. The film feels like it wants to be heartfelt and funny at the same time but never fully succeeds at either.

It’s not a terrible movie, but it’s also not particularly memorable. I personally would not watch it again. I would only recommend it to viewers who especially enjoy romantic comedies mixed with gangster themes, because that unusual combination is the main appeal.

Overall, it’s a movie with an interesting idea and a decent start, but the execution keeps it from being truly great.

Spoilers

The film establishes early on that Tai, a triad gangster, becomes fascinated with Fen after she helps hide him from assassins in her family’s salon. Instead of simply thanking her, he becomes almost fixated on her and begins forcing his gang members—and even random people—to get their hair cut by her to help her business succeed.

This idea could have been charming, but the romance never really made sense to me. Fen has just broken up with her previous boyfriend, who was a clean-cut college guy. Her suddenly falling for a scruffy gangster doesn’t feel like a natural progression for her character.

Another strange aspect is how quickly Fen’s family accepts Tai’s presence. It’s already odd that a family would allow a gangster to regularly hang around their salon, but the film also plays scenes involving intimacy between Tai and Fen in a way that feels awkward considering the parents are nearby. I personally did not like all the F bombs. Saying you are going to F somebody is not romantic. Talking about your genitals also not romantic. So, the raunchy language was unnecessary and really took me out of the romance.

I had to look it up because I did not expect sex to be treated so casually by the family. Culturally, Taiwan is generally modern in its attitudes toward dating and relationships, so couples being intimate before marriage isn’t unheard of. However, the movie exaggerates the situation for comedy, which may be why it feels awkward or unrealistic rather than believable.

The film also leans heavily into slapstick humor and gangster violence. I knew going in that there would be some blood and fights because it involves organized crime, and that part wasn’t the issue. The bigger problem is that the love story—the emotional core of the film—never becomes convincing or heartwarming.

The ending is also questionable. Tai is stabbed badly, yet instead of going to the hospital he shows up to make a dramatic romantic gesture toward Fen. It’s meant to be emotional, but it comes across as unrealistic.

The movie then shows a sort of epilogue/outtake scene where Fen is pregnant and still working as a hairdresser, while Tai is no longer a gangster. However, he seems to be mostly talking about plans and dreams rather than actually doing anything meaningful with his life. It’s technically a happy ending because they’re together, but it doesn’t feel particularly satisfying.

Read More