No matter how many jokes about big booties BEAUTY SHOP tosses at us, it's nothing more than BARBER SHOP LITE.

As the story starts, Gina Norris (Queen Latifah) is the best stylist in a very upscale cuttery run by the flamboyant Jorge Christophe. With long curly hair and a really cheesy accent, Kevin Bacon chews up the scenery as Jorge, who -- surprise -- might not really be Austrian after all. Treating his employees like slaves, he faces a revolt when Gina dumps him to form her own salon.

Although she struggles to find a loan and to keep her dilapidated place in running order, Gina never wants for customers. Profits, however, seem to elude her. The by-the-numbers script has Jorge losing of all of his best customers to Gina and her gals -- plus one gorgeous guy, who acts gay so we know he isn't. Although Jorge cheats, he still has trouble winning in their big cross-town competition. But the whole point of the picture is the banter inside Gina's shop, not the rivalry.

The women joke about everything. Typical of these discussions is one about how much they hate men who cry, with one of them remarking, "I only got room for one crying man in my house, and he better be wearing diapers." This stylist is pregnant with lots of kids at home from various boyfriends, so the joke about her is that her house has a "revolving door."

Our audience ate up this movie. Their favorite scene was the dance by Alicia Silverstone, who plays the token white girl who has trouble fitting in. Shaking all parts of her anatomy, she concocts a dance that is in equal measures humorous and sexual.

I'm sure I'll have to sit through a BEAUTY SHOP 2 quicker than you can say "perm," as in permanent money machine for this obviously lucrative franchise.

BEAUTY SHOP runs 1:45. It is rated PG-13 for "sexual material, language and brief drug references" and would be acceptable for teenagers.