Bad camerawork, no worse than the documentary norm these days, rough, shaky, often out of position, but the film is nevertheless an engrossing and entertaining investigation of the "problem" of African-American hair, the size of which problem may hitherto have eluded you. Our on-screen investigator is a bemused, amused, nonjudgmental, and generally dialled-down Chris Rock, father himself of two young girls, one of whom posed the instigating question, "Daddy, how come I don't have good hair?" Two main solutions to the problem are gone into in depth or anyhow at length: first the relaxer, a/k/a a "nap antidote," a/k/a the "creamy crack," and second the weave, the latest innovation evidently in what used to be called a fall. The solution of the whole-hog wig gets ignored altogether, as do a couple of silently beckoning topics, a retrospective, for one, on the Black Is Beautiful movement of the Sixties (whatever became of that?), and for another, just for contrast, a fashion show of au courant "natural" hairstyles. Among the talking heads on parade (Al Sharpton, Ice-T, Maya Angelou, Nia Long, Meagan Good, Raven-Symoné, many more) is noteworthily the author A'Lelia Bundles, who could well serve as poster girl for a natural solution. There must be others like her. Directed by Jeff Stilson. (2009) — Duncan Shepherd
Rated PG-13 | 1.0 hour, 35 minutes
