VIDAL SASSOON: THE MOVIE

With his hard-earned charm, Vidal Sassoon very nearly blinds the audience to the mechanics of this heavily loaded promotional documentary. Director Craig Teper's intention seems to be, to make a museum-quality movie to inspire would-be hair stylists.

With warts and all carefully excised or masked, "Vidal Sassoon: The Movie" manages to dole out biographical facts with massaged manipulation. Credited with changing history with his revolutionary "five-point-haircut," Vidal Sassoon's impact on culture seems overrated at best.

An obligatory use of archive footage from television shows, interviews, and photos examines Sassoon's personal reinvention after being orphaned at a young age. What we get is a manicured portrayal of a self-made man whose flaws and foibles are always hidden from view. For such a unique individual, there's very little grit-of-personality on display.

Like his famous line of hair products, the film is one more arm of marketing self-promotion.

Rated PG. 90 mins.

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