A Taiwanese Film Review

Miss Shampoo
請問，還有哪裡需要加強 (Excuse me, where else needs improvement?) 
2024 Comedy/Romance

The movie follows Fen (Vivian Sung), an aspiring hairdresser with a unique style, and Tai (Daniel Hong), a new mafia boss whose previous leader has been killed by unknown hitmen. Although the opening scene is of Fen working late at night, practicing on a mannequin at the small shop where she works, I would argue that the movie isn’t really about her. Rather, it is about Tai, who stumbles in shortly after, bleeding from multiple stab wounds, seeking a hideout from the men who’ve just killed his boss.

Fen does not give him away when the killers come searching, and the next day he returns with other members (“brothers”) of his gang and lavish gifts to thank her. He insists on staying and getting his hair cut by Fen, who until then was only allowed to wash customer’s hair. While her first attempt is not a success, her second is much better and it isn’t long before all the gang members are showing up to the shop for a special haircut or style from Fen, boosting the floundering shop’s business. 

This movie is advertised as a romantic comedy, and it certainly achieves both, although most of the humor is crude. It doesn’t detract from the movie for me personally, but I know some people might be offended by the crass jokes or the violence that becomes so over the top that it veers comical. Fen and Tai make an endearing couple and I couldn’t help but root for them to get together, even though they wouldn’t make sense on paper. Of course, it isn’t long before trouble arises for them. Tai is a gangster after all, and the men who killed his boss are still out there somewhere, though only the audience sees them creeping closer as the movie goes on. I won’t spoil anything because I truly think you should watch the movie yourself, but I will say that it does have a happy ending, even though it made me cry a few times along the way.

As I mentioned before, this movie is really about Tai, who comes to realize a lot about himself and what’s important to him in life. Fen criticises him early on in the movie, saying it isn’t right for a boss to let underlings take the fall for their actions, and we learn later that Tai has always felt the same way, even as a teenager. We also find out that his old boss had pushed him towards the attackers before being killed, which changed how Tai felt about him and about the role of the boss. He has a sense of responsibility and honor that can’t be shaken, even when he’s facing severe punishment or death.  

Although the film is overall lighthearted and doesn’t take itself too seriously, there were a few meaningful scenes that touched my heart. I have noticed this is a trend in the Taiwanese comedies that I’ve watched – they surprise me with moments of heartfelt writing that change the whole way I feel about the movie.  The music for this movie is also spot-on and really adds to the comedy at times (also, I learned that Daniel Hong is part of the band 玖壹壹 (Nine One One) whose music is included in the film). Much of the dialogue is spoken in Taiwanese Hokkien which I always appreciate as well. I’m not generally one for rewatching movies, but this is one I would give another go just for the laughs and the silly haircuts.