Movies
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
Wide Releases
Now In Theaters
76
(500) Days of Summer
49
2012
60
9
17
All About Steve
37
Amelia
53
Astro Boy
70
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
52
Blind Side
47
Box, The
61
Capitalism: A Love Story
55
Christmas Carol, A
43
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
66
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
23
Couples Retreat
39
Fame
30
Final Destination, The
34
Fourth Kind, The
41
G-Force
46
Halloween II
73
Hangover, The
78
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
66
Informant!, The
69
Inglourious Basterds
58
Invention of Lying, The
47
Jennifer's Body
66
Julie & Julia
34
Law Abiding Citizen
54
Men Who Stare At Goats, The
67
Michael Jackson's This Is It
28
Pandorum
58
Pirate Radio
39
Planet 51
30
Saw VI
53
Shorts
33
Stepfather, The
45
Surrogates
46
Twilight Saga: New Moon, The
71
Where the Wild Things Are
67
Whip It
28
Whiteout
73
Zombieland
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Limited Releases
Now In Theaters
58
(Untitled)
96
35 Shots of Rum![]()
56
Adam
39
Adventures of Power
66
Afterschool
73
Amreeka
49
Antichrist
76
Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86
Beaches of Agnes, The![]()
71
Big Fan
65
Black Dynamite
76
Bliss
26
Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
44
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81
Bright Star![]()
76
Broken Embraces
70
Bronson
62
Cloud 9
65
Coco Before Chanel
69
Cold Souls
60
Collapse
82
Cove, The![]()
75
Crude
82
Damned United, The![]()
53
Dare
50
Defamation
67
Departures
70
Earth Days
85
Education, An![]()
55
Endgame
88
Fantastic Mr. Fox![]()
31
Fix
49
Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80
Food, Inc.
xx
From Mexico with Love
28
Gentlemen Broncos
72
Good Hair
89
Goodbye Solo![]()
63
Horse Boy, The
74
House of the Devil, The
xx
How to Seduce Difficult Women
26
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
70
It Might Get Loud
46
Killing Kasztner
43
Little Traitor, The
34
Looking for Palladin
80
Lorna's Silence
46
Love Hurts
84
Maid, The![]()
45
Mammoth
75
Messenger, The
55
Missing Person, The
59
More Than a Game
34
Motherhood
62
My One and Only
48
New York, I Love You
66
No Impact Man
26
Oh My God
68
Paranormal Activity
68
Paris
79
Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
73
Red Cliff
69
September Issue, The
79
Serious Man, A
65
Skin
41
Splinterheads
42
Staten Island
50
Stoning of Soraya M., The
58
Storm
82
Sun, The![]()
49
Ten9Eight: Shoot for the Moon
73
That Evening Sun
61
Trucker
49
Turning Green
83
U2 3D![]()
45
Uncertainty
67
Visual Acoustics
32
War on Kids
67
Way We Get By, The
65
Wedding Song, The
xx
White on Rice
59
William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe
74
Woman in Berlin, A
43
Women in Trouble
69
Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Good Hair
EMAILPRINTRoadside Attractions

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 27 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 7 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Comedy | Documentary
Written by: Lance Crouther
Directed by: Jeff Stilson
Release Date:
Theatrical: October 9, 2009
Running Time: 95 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG-13 for some language including sex and drug references, and brief partial nudity
Starring Chris Rock
An exposé of comic proportions that only Chris Rock could pull off, Good Hair visits beauty salons and hairstyling battles, scientific laboratories and Indian temples to explore how hairstyles impact the activities, pocketbooks and self-esteem of the black community. (Roadside Attractions)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
USA Today Claudia Puig
Good Hair is cause for hope that Rock continues to make documentaries. His style is lively, smooth and up-to-date, like the most coveted 'do.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
Although its tone is generally genial and jovial, Good Hair touches on some tricky issues, at times complicitly.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
Rock gives Good Hair a rousing message: Where African-Americans in the '60s adopted a ''natural'' look, they now feel free to coif their heads any way they want. That's cultural power.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin
Is it possible to talk about the fascinating and complex universe of black hair without dealing with race and identity? That’s the question posed by Good Hair.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Jeannette Catsoulis
Spirited, probing and frequently hilarious, it coasts on the fearless charm of its front man and the eye-opening candor of its interviewees, most of them women.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
One of those rare documentaries that works on two seemingly incongruous levels at once: It's both social commentary and pure delight.
Read Full Review >Variety Justin Chang
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 Full Review >Los Angeles Times Betsy Sharkey
The result is a documentary that weaves as much comedy as fact into the narrative, making the experience a satisfying entertainment even for the lucky few who have no hair cares at all.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Ann Hornaday
Thanks to Rock's running monologue, combining scathing humor with trenchant observations, the film manages to be side-splitting even while making its most poignant points.
Read Full Review >St. Louis Post-Dispatch Kevin C. Johnson
Rock misses the boat in deciding not to relate Good Hair to non African-Americans more.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Connie Ogle
"Our self-esteem is wrapped up in it,'' admits actress Tracie Thoms (who sticks with a natural curly look). "A woman's hair is her glory,'' Angelou says.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Wesley Morris
There’s a lot of Michael Moore’s ambulatory spirit in this film, which the comedian Jeff Stinson directed. There’s also a lot of the damning comedic commentary that made Rock’s old HBO series so urgent.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
It’s an eye-opening and modestly funny look at a massive business and a culture with its own signifiers and language.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub
It's funny, clever and marginally educational.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
About the only question not answered by Good Hair is whether Michelle Obama wears a hair extension (most come from religious ceremonies in India) or straightens her hair.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Stephen Cole
Good Hair is also about how African-Americans spend $9-billion annually chemically treating and straightening their hair, buying 80 per cent of America's hair products. It's such a fascinating, complex tale that you hope one day some probing filmmaker will make a conclusive documentary on the subject.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Rock conveys a lot of information, but also some unfortunate opinions and misleading facts. That doesn't mean the move isn't warm, funny, and entertaining.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
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 Full Review >Chicago Reader Staff (Not credited)
An exposé of comic proportions that only Chris Rock could pull off.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Jessica Baxter
In addition to the socio-economic impact, Good Hair also explores how hair care affects the African-American community in confidence (both personal and race-related), romantic relationships and every day life.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Frank Scheck
Entertaining and substantive enough to be interesting even for those completely unfamiliar with weaves and relaxers.
Read Full Review >Slate Dana Stevens
The result is a pop documentary in the Morgan Spurlock mode, cheeky and smart without being too serious.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
There's plenty to appreciate in Chris Rock's rollicking documentary about what goes on when African-American women hit the salon.
Read Full Review >Time Out New York Keith Uhlich
A slipshod documentary about a fascinating subject: the loaded history and current complications of African-American hairstyling.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 6.8 (out of 10) based on 7 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Sonia O gave it an8:
I enjoyed this movie. There are lots of interesting facts about black hair care that I didn't know about - and I'm black!
T. Russ gave it a1:
Waste of film!
