July 27, 2007 -- “Hairspray” is a film of pure entertainment. Set in 1962, the film features lots of singing and dancing and silly jokes strung around a thin story. The singing and dancing numbers are good, but there isn't much variety to them and they wear a bit thin after awhile. The movie is less than two hours (107 minutes) but seems longer. It makes up for that with likeable characters, good musical numers, an upbeat message and a lot of heart and humor. There is plenty of acting talent on the screen with veterans John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Paul Dooley and Jerry Stiller turning in good performances, but everyone is upstaged by the irrepressible newcomer, Nikki Blonsky, starring as Tracy Turnblad, the girl who wants to be a heavyweight TV dancing star.

Tracy and her best friend, Penny Pingleton (played by Amanda Bynes of “What a Girl Wants”) try out for the part of dancers on a TV variety show that looks like the old “American Bandstand” show hosted by Dick Clark. The evil station manager, Velma Von Tussle (Michelle Pfeiffer), who judges people by their looks, throws Tracy out of the audition without giving her a fair chance and makes a lot of rude remarks about her weight. The relentlessly upbeat Tracy finds a way to get on the show anyway, and even lands an endorsement deal, but is willing to risk it all in a protest march on the station aimed at forcing the station to racially integrate its dance show.

The whole battle over racial integration and letting fat people dance comes to a head during the station's annual “Miss Teenage Hairspray” competition. The movie's message about diversity, acceptance and social justice were all there in the original “Hairspray” movie made in 1988 by John Waters (who has a cameo role in this one as a flasher). This latest film preserves those themes from the original. Waters, a homosexual, knew what it was to be an outsider in society. An echo of his affection for the outsider overweight dancer heroine in “Hairspray” still comes through loud and clear in this film. Another holdover from the original film is Stiller. The original film inspired a Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, which in turn inspired this 2007 movie.

The film benefits from some fine performances in key roles, led by the bubbly Nikki Blonsky as Tracy. Walken, who plays Tracy's father, gets to show off some of his famed dancing and singing talent in this film, as does Travolta, who plays Tracy's mother. Michelle Pfeiffer is spot-on as the vicious Velma Von Tussle, and performs a nice song and dance number, too. James Marsden (“X-Men”) does a great job playing TV dance star Corny Collins. Zac Efron (“Heist”) is very good as the slick Link Larkin. Elijah Kelley, who plays Seaweed and Taylor Parks, who plays Little Inez, both children of dance show host Motormouth Maybelle (Queen Latifah of “Chicago”), all sing and dance up a storm. Kudos to the makeup wizards, hair stylists and the costume designers that made these characters look like refuges from 1962. Travolta's fat suit drag ensemble is outrageous but effective. The whole film looks bright and stylish. Kudos to Production Designer David Gropman, Art Director Dennis Davenport, Costume Designer Rita Ryack, head hair stylist Jenny Arbour and special makeup effects artist Dan Cawley. This is a great-looking film that really rocks. It rates a B+.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in video and/or DVD format, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

Copyright © 2007 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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