Hairspray

FLICK Borrowing a line from the finale, like the motion of the ocean, you can’t stop the beat – or the toe-tapping – once Tracy Turnblad leaves her home for school singing "Good Morning, Baltimore," in the new version of John Walters’ Hairspray. Set in the early 1960’s, open-minded and fun-loving teenager Tracy follows her dream to dance with the kids on the Corny Collins Show. With Negro Day happening only once a month on the locally produced program, Tracy challenges the forces of discrimination to promote integration so the world will live, and Twist, as one. With its celebratory tone and joyfully detailed choreography, this crowd-pleaser has lots of showstoppers that will put a smile on your face and make you feel as if you’ve used a relaxant all over your body.
Like the recent production of The Producers, Hairspray is the film adaptation of a Tony award-winning Broadway musical that was reinvented from a movie. The original film had an assortment of B-listers like singers Sonny Bono and Debbie Harry, Ricki Lake and most notably, the infamous cross-dresser Divine. This eclectic mix maintained director Waters’ subversive style while adding familiarity to an inventive script, nudging him into the mainstream. This new version ups the ante with notable A-listers and familiar faces to appeal to just about everyone. Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken and Queen Latifah work their magic along with newcomer Nikki Blonsky who easily carries her weight, and the film, as Tracy.
Keeping his personal beliefs aside, John Travolta is still the elephant in the room as housewife Edna Turnblad, a female character always played with a wink to the audience by a plus-sized man. With Divine in the film, and Harvey Fierstein and Bruce Vilanch alternately in the stage versions, there was never the need to feminize Edna, only to let a natural fabulousness emerge. Choosing not to mimic his predecessors, Travolta works hard doing the opposite, coming off ultra dainty and sweet, and the only one using a Baltimore accent. It takes a while to adjust to all of this, not to mention his physical appearance, as the obvious padded fat suit and makeup set Travolta apart, replicating one of the animated hippos in Disney’s Fantasia. But those hippos swayed gracefully when they danced, and so does Travolta, particularly in a backyard pas de deux with his devoted onscreen husband Walken.
With all the aerosol around, the younger cast members, including Zac Efron, Amanda Bynes, James Marsden, Elijah Kelley and Brittany Snow, gel and are never stiff, gliding smoothly in their beautifully appropriate period costumes.
For added dimension and contrast, check out the 1988 version. If you flip for the original, you won’t be teased by the remake. My Score: 9 out of 10.