HAIRSPRAY, BITCHES!!!
Hairspray was good. Not as good as I wanted it to be, but still good. Most of the singing was A+. Michelle Pheiffer totally rocked every scene she was in. Christopher Walken: good. Queen Latifah: good. Amanda Bynes: surprisingly good. I was a little worried about her, but it turns out, the girl can actually sing. I was stunned. And the kids who played Tina and Seaweed were excellent. Top notch.
One complaint: John Fucking Travolta.
Oh, John. To start out with, there was a lot of controversy surrounding his involvement in the movie; several Gay Rights supporters were protesting the casting choice, saying that because John Travolta's a Scientologist, he shouldn't be playing an iconic gay character. Which I don't agree with - I think that when it comes to roles, the actor's personal beliefs or religions shouldn't affect which parts they play, and that it was ridiculous to go around screening every actors background to see if they're appropriate for a role. If the actor is a good match for the role, his personal life shouldn't matter.
But instead of making these points, Mister Travolta responded to the complaints by saying that the role wasn't gay, and that there was nothing gay about the movie, so the complaints weren't valid. Oh, John. It's a role written by a gay man, played by an iconic drag queen, and originated onstage by a gay actor. Honey. It's GAY. Accept it.
Maybe if you had accepted it, you wouldn't have giving such a GOD FUCKING AWFUL PERFORMANCE. Seriously. There was the weird accent that seemed to come and go, the mumbled lines, the odd delivery, and just the general lack of soul. Instead of playing a part, Travolta was playing a mockery of the part. It was ridiculous, and very difficult to sit through. I had to avert my eyes during most of his scenes.
So basically, stunt casting almost ruined my movie. Of course, my opinion is so biased it's not even funny. I feel a lot of loyalty for the original production. For one thing, I live in Seattle where it originally began, and since my step dad works in the theater business we have several friends of the family who were involved in the original production. Plus, also because my step dad worked on the production, I got comps to see the preview, so I was one of the first people to see it onstage. It wasn't even the first show: by the time it started running, some of the lines had been changed. So I have a lot of *~*SPECIAL FEELINGS*~* for the production.
Still, I think we can all agree that John Travolta is a complete asshat who deserves to be shot. Seriously, has he even made a good movie since Pulp Fiction?
UNRELATED NOTE: I'll be out of town this weekend to visit Bellingham. I plan to spend most of the trip reading the seventh Harry Potter book. So just incase one of the, say, two people who occasionally check this journal comments, know that I won't be able to get to you till Monday.