Cast, Script Never Quite Click In ‘Beautician’

Fran Drescher tries the big screen on for size with “The Beautician and the Beast,” and while the likable comedian is certainly up to the challenge the material proves to be less than form-fitting.

Directed by Ken Kwapis, the fish-out-of-water romantic comedy, about an ambitious beautician who leaves Queens behind for a gig tutoring the children of a stern, Eastern European dictator (Timothy Dalton), never really clicks into gear despite obvious similarities to Drescher’s hit TV series.

Written by Todd Graff, a longtime friend of Drescher and her husband and co-executive producer Peter Marc Jacobson, the vehicle is essentially “The Nanny Goes Abroad.”

Stopped on a New York City street with an unusual job offer from a persistent emissary (Ian McNeice), Drescher’s character, Joy Miller, quickly finds herself saying goodbye to her pushy mother (Phyllis Newman) and her sympathetic father (Michael Lerner) before she’s whisked off to the former Communist country of Slovetzia.

While the vehicle would appear to be tailor-made to Drescher’s effervescent talents, it seldom gets up to speed. Part of the trouble is that, for what purports to be a romantic comedy, there just isn’t much chemistry to speak of between her and Dalton.

But while Drescher’s “fine whine” persona is very much intact, both Kwapis’ direction and Graff’s script feel a couple of beats off.

With a major chunk of the picture filmed on location in the Czech Republic, the production values are cost efficient but nothing to write home about, although costume designer Barbara Tfank has provided Drescher with a wardrobe that screams out “Queens chic.”

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“THE BEAUTICIAN AND THE BEAST” Locations: Lincoln Heights, North Division and Coeur d’Alene Credits: Directed by Ken Kwapis, starring Fran Drescher, Timothy Dalton, Ian McNeice, Lisa Jakub, Patrick Malahide, Michael Lerner, Adam La Vorgna, Phyllis Newman Running time: 1:45 Rating: PG