Straight lines, funny stuff in 'Good Hair'

We all have good hair days and bad hair days.

My good hair days, for instance, occur when the right combination of light, angle and shadow (total darkness helps) conspire to make it appear that I still have as much as I used to.

Having seen Chris Rock's comic documentary 'Good Hair," I'm glad that my hair problems are mainly exercises in subtraction.

Rock's doc explores the much more complicated algorithm that governs the hair of African-American women - variables include colors, curls, extensions, straighteners, chemicals that can dissolve soda cans, and an entire history of touchy racial politics.

"Good Hair" is short on text, long on anecdote - almost all the information is provided by Rock's long roster of interviewees, from stars and celebrities (Eve, Raven-Symone, Nia Long, Maya Angelou), and to ordinary women (and some guys). He and director Jeff Stilson (also a stand-up) are generally content to use the funny stuff, so "Good Hair" contains more quips than insight.

The movie's been criticized for its lack of context and history, bit I found it eye-opening in other ways - one highlight, for instance, is a behind-the-scenes look at a hair-products trade show in Atlanta where prominent stylists create elaborate theme shows, a diverting combination of grandiose ideas and DIY execution.

It's an inside look at an offbeat, under-examined corner of American life - one of the things that documentaries do best, and "Good Hair" does it well.

Rock also ventures to India, the source of so much of the long black hair (cut off during religious rituals) imported to the U.S. for sale as hair extensions. The India interlude typifies "Good Hair" - you get some interesting on-location details, and you also get a look at Rock riding around on top of an ox, like some wisecracking potentate.

The movie is consistently amusing, and mildly disapproving. Rock clearly is aghast that young girls are having harmful chemicals spooned onto their heads, and you get the idea he feels too much money ($9 billion, we're told) is spent on hair.

You also feel how uncomfortable he is with lecture and preaching, or even straightforward history. Part of this is Rock's comedic instinct. His first priority is to get a laugh, and sometimes he allows a subject to get away with a punchline when real insight might have helped.

Al Sharpton, for instance, implies that he straightened his hair in order to secure Martin Luther King Day as a national holiday. It's a funny bit, but Rock doesn't really press him to go deeper.

It also helps that Rock likes jokes at his own expense. When he commends Angelou for sticking with a simple style for her whole life, she reminds him that she's not yet dead, and Rock laughs at his own lack of tact.