HAIRSPRAY

REVIEWED BY RISSI C.

Our rating: 4 out of 5

Because of: innuendo, thematic elements

Rated:

Baltimore, May 1962. Tracy Turnblad (Nikki Blonsky) and friend Penny Pingleton (Amanda Bynes) rush home from school to catch the “Corny Collins Show,” excitingly dancing along with the kids on TV. Tracy, a happy-go-lucky kind of girl, dreams of one day becoming famous too. As someone who loves to dance and sing, Tracy is ecstatic when she hears there is an opening on her favorite show for a dancer. 

Now all she has to do is convince her mother of her dream. The problem with that is her mother Edna (John Travolta) is over protective, hasn’t been socially active in years, and is concerned for her little girl's safety. Tracy’s father Wilbur (Christopher Walken) is the opposite; he does realize a dream when he sees one, and so over Edna’s objections, he gives Tracy permission to try out. Penny and Tracy gleefully skip school and are able to see their teen idols up close in a dance rehearsal! They also meet the station manager Velma Von Tussle (Michelle Pfeiffer), a perfectionist whose “perfect” daughter Amber (Brittany Snow) is the lead dancer and the girlfriend of the dreamy lead Link Larkin (Zach Efron), who Tracy also has a crush on. After seeing Tracy dance, Velma dismisses her with a wave of her hand and a comment or two that she would never do.

Being resigned to the fact that she just didn’t make it, Tracy is thrilled when she meets Seaweed (Elijah Kelly), a black student at her school who has more than one dancing tip for her. With Seaweed and Penny, Tracy just may get her shot at fame and some true friends along the way. This colorful musical is filled with song and dance routines that are as entertaining to watch come to life as the peppy songs to go with them are. Aside from seeing posters for the Broadway shows, I’d never read or really seen much about Hairspray. After learning  Amanda Bynes was starring in this though, it went on my list of must-see movies. 

First off, for the few people out there that like me may not have realized what this movie really is, let me say it’s strictly a musical with very little normal dialogue. Almost as soon as one routine ends, another begins. The costumes, upbeat tunes and fabulous dancing make up for its lack of "normal" conversation, but you do have to sit through two hours of twirls, an enormous amount of hairspray and conversations set to a tune. The finale You Can’t Stop the Beat is fantastic and a perfectly magnificent way to end. The acting was all well done. John Travolta was a stitch. An interesting thing I didn’t know is that the role of Edna is always played by a man. John had to go through a lot of hair and make-up to play this character, as well as wear a thirty pound fat suit, but somehow he pulled it all off. 

Newcomer Nikki Blonsky was very acceptable; she was neither fabulous nor terrible. Her voice was wonderful. Amanda Bynes was just as entertaining although not having a big part makes her more in the background than usual. Her expressions are priceless if you watch her. Michelle Pfeiffer was brilliant after a five year absence from the movie business, her perfect portrayal of the nasty social stickler was great. This movie had a fantastic cast with too many to name and comment on individually, some other names worth mentioning are Queen Latifuh, James Marsden, Allison Janney and Zack Efron. 

Another reason I wasn’t against seeing this in theaters was reading that most critics called this good, wholesome fun, which is something in a movie that always brings its standards up more in my opinion. There are a few things worthy of mentioning and some more mature thematic elements. Some of the dances and songs are a bit sensual, but nothing too extreme. Tracy has a huge crush on Link and sings a song at school about their life together; another high school girl falls for a black student. A mother “ties” a girl to her bed after she helps someone her mother disapproves of, tells her she’s grounded, and leaves the Lord’s Prayer playing for her to hear. A woman attempts to “seduce” a married man in order to get back at someone and get rid of the competition for her daughter.

A big part of the movie revolves around the racial issues of having fairness between blacks and whites being able to come together and dance on the “Corny Collins Show," something I didn't realize going in. It was handled well and doesn’t make you feel uncomfortable. Overall Hairspray bears mild caution, but is a fun film. After its three week run, I was a bit surprised at how many people were at the afternoon showing, which proves it is winning over audiences with its playful tunes and mostly clean dance moves. The ending to this is a little unexpected, but altogether very pleasant and leaves a smile on your face.