The first three minutes of the film are brilliant. Its Drescher's version of Sleeping Beauty, with gorgeous animation and all. Sleeping Beauty looks remarkably like Drescher, and Prince Charming resembles a blond male bimbo. He kisses her, and that works okay, but the fun begins when he tries to carry her off to be his queen. Drescher's Sleeping Beauty slaps him down, telling him in no uncertain terms that she has things to do and places to go, and she can't possibly get married right now. P. C. thinks she kidding, and flings her on his horse anyway.

She promptly falls off and runs away. Its quite amusing, and even a little hopeful - it certainly grabbed my attention, because for about two seconds I thought that maybe this film planned to be a feminist revision of classic fairytales.

But no such luck! Drescher, the beautician with the wild wardrobe, hair and make-up, and of course, the dulcet New Jersey accent is lured to become a teacher in an eastern block country that should be called Stereotopia. But this is fantasy and the script is probably a conglomeration of Drescher's favourite fairy tales and Hollywood musicals. Lets see, there's Pretty Woman, and Cinderella, The Sound of Music, and My Fair Lady, and the list goes on. Actually, half the fun is spotting the references to the stories of childhood.

Timothy Dalton plays the beast, he's the president or something of the eastern block country, and he is just as silly as the whole movie, so it would be unfair to single him out for ridicule, much as I'm tempted to - there's something pitiful about seeing how low an ex 007 can go. But, series criticism of this movie is pointless, because it will not stand up to scrutiny. The Beautician and the Beast is Fran Drescher's flight of fantasy - and, on some levels, she gets away with it. Drescher makes no bones about the fact that she adores herself, so why should I? Expect nothing from this film, and you won't be disappointed, but you might just enjoy the mindlessness of it all - I did!

Then I saw Fools Rush In, on Valentine's Day of days, and basically came away with the same feeling I had after watching Beautician. There is a certain mindless entertainment value to the film as well. This time the tv sitcomer making the transition to the big screen is Matthew Perry, or Chandler from "Friends." I saw an interview with him, and he commented that he had to break away from the Chandler persona for the film. But he's either wrong or fooling himself, big time. Fools Rush In is just a two hour adventure for Chandler, in which he muddles his way through every stereotype he can find. He gets a girl, who is just as Mexican as he is WASPy, gets married and lives the American dream - oh no, I've spoilt the ending! But you can sniff the dime store romance novel writers a mile off, and by about mid way through the film, you know its just a matter of filling in the dots until the conclusion. But, like Beautician, if you really expect little, and promise yourself that you won't look for logic, rhyme or reason, you can like this film for the sentimental clap trap that it is.