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Summary:
Tracy Turnblad watches EVERY episode of the Corny Collins Show. She dances to all the tunes, learns all the moves and knows all the peoples' names that go on the air. She dreams to some day become a part of that crew, but she's fat. Eventually, she becomes a surprise hit and starts stirring all kinds of shit up. This is 1962, and she's dancing with "negros" and trying to instigate interracial dancing. Eegads!

Review:
I didn't much want to check out this movie. I liked John Waters' Hairspray quite a bit, and felt it was a bit of an insult to remake a movie off the Broadway musical that was based on the original movie. I didn't want to see John Travolta in an ugly fat suit playing a role that was made famous by the late Divine, who lived life as a woman so it made the role that much more convincing. The last movie I saw that was a movie based on a musical that was based on an older movie was The Producers, and if there has ever been a steaming pile of warm shit that I fell neck deep into, that was one of the real fine examples. Without the grace of corn and fun that comes from the talented hand of John Waters, I didn't have much hope for Hairspray.
This is one of the reasons I keep watching shit movies. I was keeping half an ear on the first 20 minutes, but I was soon sucked into the wonderful music, the great cast and some well timed comedy. I'm always up for a dose of The Walken, and he was stupendous in this one. Michelle Pfeifer is still really damned hot, and her singing voice has only gotten better since Grease 2. And Amanda Bynes... Oh my GOD! She is so freaking cute! I never gave her a second glance before, and then she's all dolled up with some of the most vacant eyes imaginable, sucking endlessly on that Freudian lollipop with her pigtails all made up... yowza. I couldn't keep my eyes off of her. There was some strange magnetism that kept pulling my gaze to her any time she was in frame. Zak Efron was another reason for me to avoid this. Well, he was great, too. Looked a bit like Lou Diamond Phillips in La Bamba. Even John Travolta looking like a dude in a bad fat suit didn't weigh this movie down. I forgot that he was Travolta during key moments. Every ten minutes I kept clearing my head for a few moments to make sure that yes, I truly WAS loving this movie as much as it seemed.

I am kind of embarrassed to admit how much I fell for Hairspray. The deck was stacked against their favor, and my attempt at being tabula rasa about my expectations were muddled and fogged over by all the things that were sure to make this movie suck. One of my favorite moments was seeing Christopher Walken finally have a real dance number in one of his movies. He's done it spectacularly in the past with the only good scene in Pennies from Heaven, but his ballroom dancing has always been a part of every role he's done. For a few seconds - or one scene every now and then - Walken would do a little shimmy, or dance with someone (or a mop), but Hairspray had his character dancing with his wife - played by Travolta - along with his singing voice! It was such a joy for me to get such an eye and earful. I never thought I'd hear The Walken sing, and was glad to finally see him dance as well. For real. He even does some lead AND follow in the steps.
Zak Efron has shockingly blue eyes and doesn't look as much like the kind of dude I want to smack in the face just because he's so pretty in this one. He's actually kind of likable. Did I mention Amanda Bynes? Holy hell. Queen Latifa is cool as well, and she's another joyous entity that compliments this movie's tone.

I don't think I'll say much more about Hairspray, because the more I talk about the fun I had watching it, the more silly I feel inside. I never said I didn't like musicals, but I am dumbfounded by how much this movie worked when before I watched it I was fearing the worst. It's a wonderful thing being caught off guard in such a way, and having a child-like glee and a sense of "Hakuna Matada" during a movie's run time is what it's almost always about at the movies. This was made to entertain, and boy was I ever.
I won't recommend it to people, because I would feel self conscious recommending something that others might end up hating. But chances are good that if you liked the original Hairspray, then this would be worth taking a look at.

GRADE: A

Reviewed 1/28/08