68
Metascore
22 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 88TV Guide MagazineKen FoxTV Guide MagazineKen FoxSo laugh all you want at the proud haircutters of Beauty Without Borders - but don't underestimate what a basic cut and color can mean for a country's future.
- 83The A.V. ClubTasha RobinsonThe A.V. ClubTasha RobinsonMermin presents all this without editorial comment, and her film would be worth watching if only for its look at a profound culture-clash. But it goes one better, and delves into one of those clashing cultures, capturing it in a moment of change that goes far beyond one beauty academy's superficial concerns.
- Liz Mermin documents the hilarious, moving and sometimes fractious meeting of diametrically different cultures, one that has suffered unimaginable horrors and one that believes a good perm is the answer to everything.
- 80SalonAndrew O'HehirSalonAndrew O'HehirA spiny, puzzling and highly entertaining film, and whatever you go into it thinking, you're likely to come out thinking something else.
- 75Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumEntertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumThe documentary takes on its own engaging shape - one of edgy editorial and political ambivalence.
- 75New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanNew York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanAs they talk between classes about oppressive husbands, abusive brothers and arranged marriages, it becomes clear that the frivolities Americans take for granted can be their lifeline. In this tentatively hopeful setting, a single lipstick becomes leverage.
- 60VarietyRonnie ScheibVarietyRonnie ScheibIn an act of "selfless service," a group of American women, backed by industry giants like Clairol and Vogue, open a beauty school in war-ravaged Afghanistan. The anomalies are manifold: Gun-toting soldiers patrolling the streets are visible through the windows as rookie beauticians busily snip, perm and tweeze.
- 60Village VoiceJessica WinterVillage VoiceJessica WinterThe idea isn't as odd as it might first appear, since running a salon is one of the few socially acceptable means for a woman in Afghanistan to earn an income. The execution, however, evokes a particularly outlandish Christopher Guest mockumentary.
- 60Washington PostAnn HornadayWashington PostAnn HornadayThe film's unforgettable stars are the beauty academy's students, women who have survived tribal warfare, Soviet invasion, Muslim tyranny, American bombs, patriarchal families and even Western good intentions with extraordinary grace and fortitude.
- 50New York PostV.A. MusettoNew York PostV.A. MusettoDebbie, for better or for worse, is the high point of the entertaining but lightweight film, which is better suited to public TV than the big screen. Oh, yes. If anybody should decide to open another beauty school in Kabul, be sure to leave Debbie in Indiana.