The Beauty Academy of Kabul
Shadow Distribution | Release Date: March 24, 2006 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
68
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
7
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
The teachers have moxie. The students have courage. Mermin's warm, funny, beautiful and deeply humane documentary certainly honors the latter. Read full review
88
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
So 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. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubTasha Robinson
Mermin 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. Read full review
80
The New York TimesJeannette Catsoulis
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. Read full review
80
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
A spiny, puzzling and highly entertaining film, and whatever you go into it thinking, you're likely to come out thinking something else. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesCarina Chocano
Ultimately, Mermin's film is a profound reminder of the things that make us human. Things that don't matter much, in the scheme of things, but loom large when taken away. Things we all have in common. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
The documentary takes on its own engaging shape - one of edgy editorial and political ambivalence. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
As 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. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy Burr
It's that gulf between earnest idealism and beaten-down realism that's the unexpected drama of Beauty Academy. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWinda Benedetti
An often touching and always intriguing look at the fall and rebirth of a nation and the resilient spirit of its women. Read full review
75
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Queen Latifah, the star of Barbershop 2 and Beauty Shop, and thus our reigning monarch of big-screen beauty stylists, should fund and narrate a sequel. Because The Beauty Academy of Kabul is good enough to make you want to know how they do. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Without editorializing, Mermin raises fascinating questions about the cultural impact of globalization, the allure of the West, and the troubled history of an ancient land. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
There's great charm, and also discomfort, in watching these highly motivated, excited women learn the tricks of a trade practiced very differently from their own, and casually swap horror stories of life under the Taliban. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
The questionably good news put forth in this documentary is that vanity apparently survives everything. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
Democracy might not really come from a bottle of shampoo, but "Beauty Academy" teaches us that, sometimes, mascara really matters. Read full review
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