Queen Latifah is following in fellow former rapper Ice Cube’s footsteps. She’s parlayed her cameo in his “Barbershop 2” into her very own spin-off with “Beauty Shop.” Also like Ice Cube, she’s got the skill of escaping bad films looking no worse for wear.

“Beauty Shop” is actually a generally cute and amusing family film. Queen Latifah has a compelling onscreen charm, no matter what she’s given to work with – here an underutilized cast, a flimsy plot, and a surplus of stereotypes.

Gina Norris, introduced to the audience in the second “Barbershop” film, has left Chicago for Atlanta so her daughter can attend an exclusive performing arts school. She’s working at a stylish salon run by a disturbingly tan and Austrian Kevin Bacon, but he’s insulted her for the last time. Gina quits, takes shampoo girl Alicia Silverstone (and her embarrassing southern accent) with her, to start up her own salon. There she inherits a motley crew of wisecracking sidekicks.

Things go well at Gina’s new place, but a film like this need an obstacle, so Kevin Bacon’s character pays off an inspector to put Gina out of business and trash the shop, all the while remembering that while silly accents are always funny, angry people with silly accents are even funnier.

On the whole, the cast does their best with what they’re given. Most impressively, Alfre Woodard manages to make her character charming, despite dialogue consisting mostly of Maya Angelou poetry. Sherri Shepherd, Golden Brooks, Kimora Lee Simmons, and Keshia Knight Pulliam (Rudy from “The Cosby Show” all grown up) are all mostly charming. Djimon Hounsou and Bryce Wilson are incredibly well cast as the sexy love interests.

The film is less charitable to Alicia Silverstone, Andie MacDowell, Mena Suvari, and Kevin Bacon. All capable of fine performances, they are wasted here without good direction.

In fact, the white characters seem invented to provide entertainment for the rest of the cast. They’re either spending all their money on breast implants or are unable to cope in the world at all. Luckily, if they’re nice, their silly problems can be cured by eating collard greens or “acting black.”

The “Barbershop” films may have dealt in stereotypes, but they had a sympathy for their characters that this film lacks. Also, they were often hilarious. “Beauty Shop” is cute, endearing at moments. But it is not often genuinely funny.

The film attempts to provide a female perspective on Ice Cube’s endearing and far funnier “Barbershop” films. While the producers went to the trouble of hiring an all-star cast, they unfortunately did not bother to provide them with a script.