He's great fun. Plotwise, Rickman plays Phil the emotionally impoverished barber, who was once the crowning hair stylist in the United Kingdom. That was 10 years ago in the quaint Yorkshire town of Keighley. Shelly and Sandra opened their own styling salon just down the street, and Phil bitterly turned to barbering - and drinking. Here she meets the reticent Brian, son of the estranged Phil and Shelly.
Complications pop up as regularly as hurdles at a track meet.
But there is never any doubt this fairy tale will have a happy ending.