Chris Rock Movie:

Editorial Review:
When one of Chris Rock's young daughters asked him an innocent question about having "good hair," the comedian probably had no idea just how complicated the answer would be. Fortunately for us, he decided to find out, and the result is this funny, informative, and highly entertaining documentary of the same name. Turns out that for a great many African-American women (and quite a few men, too), "good hair" means "white hair"--i.e., straight and lanky--while the natural or "nappy" look is bad. And oh, the lengths and expense women will go to in order to get "good hair"! In the course of the film, which was directed by Jeff Stilson and cowritten by Rock and several others, Rock first travels to Atlanta, home of the Bronner Brothers Hair Show, where thousands of folks buy and learn how to use new products (the show is also the site of the outrageous and climactic Hair Battle Royale, in which four stylists compete for money and fame). It's there that he learns about sodium hydroxide, better known as hair "relaxer," the "nap antidote," or the "creamy crack" (as effective as the chemical substance is for straightening hair, it can also be highly dangerous). In Harlem and Los Angeles, he investigates the extraordinary popularity of hair weaves, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars annually to create and maintain; Rock even goes to Madras, India, source of most of the hair used in weaves (for Indian women, tonsure, or shaving their heads, is a ritual act of self-sacrifice). Along the way, Rock interviews a great many young women with fabulous hair (including actresses Nia Long, Raven-Symoné, and Kerry Washington, and rappers Salt-N-Pepa), but he also talks to the esteemed poet Maya Angelou, as well as men like rapper-actor Ice-T and the Reverend Al Sharpton. Sharpton, who is very amusing (he's referred to as "the Dalai Lama of relaxed hair"), is about the only celeb who touches on racial issues, pointing out that while it's African Americans who use the overwhelming majority of these hair products, the companies who sell them tend to be owned by Asians. Some viewers may object to the film's lack of a strong socio-political stance, but others will no doubt prefer the lighter touch, including a hilarious discussion at a barber shop about dating women with hair weaves (basically, it's "hands off the hair, pal"). --Sam Graham

Good Hair [Blu-ray] Reviews:
exploitive, stereotypical, minimal humor
2009-11-24 - I'm disappointed. I thought "Good Hair" would be a little more in depth towards real African American cultural issues such as black class structure based on the texture of our hair, Bantu nose and lips, skin tones, and status based on a "I got Indian Blood in me", post Jim Crow Black Americans. To do this documentary in its chosen format was exploitive in itself of our own people. Why did he not put his wife or girlfriend in the documentary? He put his daughters in the film because as a father, and at their young delicate age, he obviously has control for what they do now but not his wife or girlfriend. I'm still trying to figure out why other than to squeeze a few dollars out of something so irrelevant as how a person wears his or her hair knowing it only further instigate stereotype of our people, in particular, black women. It subliminally agonize the deadly sins of vanity, greed, jealousy, impatience, ignorance, and arrogance. I would like to think that Black people would collectively consider education as the first and foremost goal to attainment of a better life in current endeavors and guiding a course for future success and desires for our descendents. Even though blacks appear to spend a lot on their personal grooming for image effect it has been that way since the glory days of Egypt and Northeast Africa. We have maybe, without proper education of our heritage, forgotten that we set the trends and establish the current fads. We are not victims concerning this issue because we have the right of choice. So what if a black woman wears a weave, use perm crème and rollers, or a wig, the most important issue of her presence are the processes of her thoughts and actions as a human being. I'm sure many of us should spend less time in the mirror and focus more on concerning household and community matters but we have been programmed by media images that have the effect of confusing our most critical priorities.

Chris Rock please utilized your celebrity status of influence to something more enlightening if you're going to do a documentary. Hollywood is hard these days and I know its work, and we all need work, but there are a number of worthy topics open to documentation that you could have chosen that can be humorous, entertaining, but most important - informative. Now you have become another entertainer who has sold his soul at the expense of his own. Just because you were able to convince Angela Mayo and a few other celebrity status individuals to be interviewed on film it still doesn't validate your reasoning. I'm sure those who were involved are second guessing being a part of that project now. My challenge to you and any other celebrity who have the means:

DOCUMENTARY THIS

How black crime and criminals affect the local economics of white America. For every black that turns to crime, they hire 1000 white police officers or more, they hire more Judges, Lawyers, Courts, Corrections Employees, Staff and Prison Guards, Construction Builders of Inmate Facilities, Shrinks, Private and Government Security Firms, Parole Officers, Prison labor for corporate farms, not to mention the amounts of money spent on the logistics of such a grand scheme. I could go on and on. We are only 12 percent of America's population which is just enough to keep business going for another hundred years. We have become a product just as we were before the so called emancipation. The black mans ignorance, illegal vice, and envious desires for the white mans material status still puts food on the table for a lot of white Americans. I'm sure if you crunch the numbers you will find out that crime is one of the largest domestic sources of stable employment for whites that no one take stats of. You have never heard of any employees working in these career fields getting laid off, even during the hardest of economic times. The will get rid of a military service personnel on a mass scale, but cops? Never! If you read this review you'll think about it the next time you get a ticket from a cop and have to pay a fine. Every time one of us do something stupid enough to be incarcerated or fined, remember, we just helped that Cop put food on the table and pay for his for his new pick-up truck, harvesting us, liked market produce.

DOCUMENTARY THIS

What happened to those Black Slave Owners of Black Slaves after the civil war in America?



DOCUMENTARY THIS

Why do so many black Americans (mostly males), who mainly populate and dwell in the largest cities in America buy an over priced, four-wheel drive, gas guzzling, off the road-all terrain vehicle that's mainly used in daily city traffic. It's clearly not economically practical. Why?

DOCUMENTARY THIS

Why President Abe Lincoln is questionable as a great American Hero?

DOCUMENTARY THIS

Why, during the Spanish America War a large group of Buffalo Soldiers defected to the Philippines once they got there from their deployment? Why?

DOCUMENTARY THIS

Why out of all the great film that Denzel Washington and Halle Berry starred in they won Academy Award Oscars for their worst portrayals. Denzel playing a corrupt, drug dealing, psychopathic, abusive cop and Halle playing a white man's nasty skank irresponsible vice infected slut whore. When clearly Mr Washington's role in "Glory", and Ms Berry's role as "Dorothy Dandridge", very much warranted such honors? Why?

DOCUMENTARY THIS

Who was the Great King Negus?


These are some issues worthy of Documentary especially if it's based on blacks as a people and target audience collectively as a group. It could also turnout to be a great and very profitable movie. If not, at lease it would be based on something factual, significant, and informative.

When Cris rock wrote and published "Rock This" it showed me he was extremely witty and intelligent with potential to do great things within the American media forum, but for now, well, don't waste your money on this crap.

Oh Yeah! For those Blacks claiming "Indian Blood" to explain a reason for the quality of their hair and skin tones you need to know the American Indians hated our guts just like they do today and want nothing to do with us. Very few of them mixed. The DNA facts says the American Indian has your African blood in him. Little do Americans know that there are black Africans with every texture of hair, every shade of skin, and every color of eyes, even certain shades of blue, natural and all real. I'm Ethiopian. I have been to Africa and seen it myself. In fact, if I could swap out the blacks of Addis Abba with the Blacks of Atlanta everyone would pretty much look the same, except for the clothing, and there are no American Indians in Ethiopia!



Good Hair. OK Documentary
2009-11-10 - Did we really need another documentary showing us how black people are still stigmatized by slavery? NO. However, this is a Chris Rock documentary. It has just enough charm and wit to make it enjoyable. Good Hair is basically a documentary about how blacks have been brainwashed into believing that the straight European hair is good hair and that our natural hair is bad. We created an entire industy on trying to look more like Whitey. LOL You see all these beautiful celebrities talking about there hair weaves. These woman pay thousands of dollars so they can walk around with this so called "Good Hair." Every black person can relate to this movie. I can't even count all the times i was told as a child that i had "Nappy Hair." Like it was some kind of a disease. This movie really makes fun of how silly we are as a society. However, I don't think it will have any lasting impact. In the future women will still be putting all that fake hair and relaxers in there heads in the pursuit of happiness.

The Issue Of Hair In the Black Community
2009-10-24 - Comedian Chris Rock takes a look at the lengths some people in the African-American community, especially women, go to for "good hair". Near the beginning and end of the movie Rock visits the Bronner Hair Show in Atlanta, Georgia, a huge trade convention for the manufacturers of black hair products. Here he highlights four stylists competing for the title of champion platform performer, an elaborate stage show featuring music, dance, costumes and, of course, hairstyling. In between Rock discusses all the time and money spent using relaxer and getting weaves as well as the possible psychological and cultural reasons behind this obsession with hair.

Rock's take on the subject seems to be that it is more important what's in your head than on your head. But it also recognizes the pressures placed on black women to fit in with society's beauty standards and understands why these women forsake their natural hair for perms and extensions. The film delves into serious subjects but maintains a funny and playful tone throughout. I certainly found myself laughing more than I did at the usual Hollywood comedy. And I even left the theater feeling a little smarter about a topic I knew almost nothing about. One of the better documentaries of the year.