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Hairspray (2007)

Director: Adam Shankman

3

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4 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out New York

Much better than 2005’s The Producers (how’s that for faint praise?), this screen version of the Tony-winning musical skips along its candy-colored early-1960s path, only to be felled by some hazardous Hollywood ham. John Waters’s original 1988 movie makes for an inspired match with belted songs; his Baltimore story is set at a local TV dance show featuring the “nicest kids in town” and the lyrical yearnings of body-mass-challenged Tracy Turnblad (the debuting Blonsky, who’s great). There’s also a desegregation component that builds more organically as an expression of a musical than as a harsh dramatic awakening; Adam Shankman’s film establishes a nonrealistic dreaminess that’s affecting.

But offsetting these careful virtues is, yes, a fat suit. Mysteriously adopting a puckered twang that has nothing to do with Charm City or Divine, John Travolta comes close to sabotaging the goodwill with a gelatinous, showy turn that never weaves with the fabric of the cast. It’s always: Wow, look at Travolta doing the dance move from Pulp Fiction (and Saturday Night Fever); wow, look at Travolta getting kissed by Christopher Walken (a musical veteran, but underused here). The vanity is difficult to ignore, but amazingly, the younger performers manage to do exactly that.

Author: Joshua Rothkopf 2007-07-17 20:06:00

Time Out New York Issue 616: July 19–25, 2007

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User reviews of this film

  • kelly said...
    Posted on Sep 23 2007 10:58 i think it was asoulotly aufull but i think zac efrron is soooooooooo fit !!
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  • Rebecca said...
    Posted on Aug 14 2007 08:31 I am going to see it on Wednesday 15th August, i hope it will be good!
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  • Debbie said...
    Posted on Aug 04 2007 17:15 Saw it twice and found it a rollicking wonderful good time, feel good movie that had me singing and tapping my toes way after the movie was over. Great show tunes. Yeah, Travolta is wierd. Nikki Blonsky very very telented!!
    Report as inappropriate
  • kirsten said...
    Posted on Aug 01 2007 10:23 hairspary is absaloultly fantastic
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Hairspray

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Cast & crew

Director: Adam Shankman

Producer: Craig Zadan, Neil Meron

Cast: Nikki Blonsky, John Travolta, Christopher Walken, James Marsden, Brittany Snow, Michelle Pfeiffer, Zac Efron, Amanda Bynes, Elijah Kelley, Queen Latifah, Allison Janney full cast

Genre(s): Comedy, Musicals

Rated: PG

Duration: 116 mins


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