Hairspray, 2007
Hairspray, 2007
Directed by Adam Shankman
Written by Leslie Dixon (based on John Waters' 1988 screenplay)
Cast:
Nikki Blonsky ... Tracy Turnblad
John Travolta ... Edna Turnblad
Michelle Pfeiffer ... Velma Von Tussle
Christopher Walken ... Wilbur Turnblad
Amanda Bynes ... Penny Pingleton
James Marsden ... Corny Collins
Queen Latifah ... Motormouth Maybelle
Brittany Snow ... Amber Von Tussle
Zac Efron ... Link Larkin
Elijah Kelley ... Seaweed
Allison Janney ... Prudy Pingleton
Taylor Parks ... Little Inez
Jerry Stiller ... Mr. Pinky
I don't know about you folks, but I love musicals. When I was young, I was a competitive figure skater and also a member of synchronized skating teams for most of my skating career. (Go ahead and snicker, I've accepted myself as the geeky nerd I am. Also, though, be afraid of my skater thighs. I can break things. And I can definitely out-skate you and then spray snow up your back while you cower in fear of my ginormous toepicks.) I was always on the lookout for new, fun music to skate to for my individual artistic programs (the ones where you can have words in your music and dress up to play a character) and for my teams' programs. Aside from that, I've been a musician almost all my life, starting on piano when I was young and now on baritone saxophone in numerous jazz/swing bands. I've been playing big band swing on bari for ten years now, and I have developed a deep love for swing music and especially bari sax in swing. While I watched and listened to the 50s/60s swing, Latin, blues and funk score of Hairspray this weekend, I had fantasies of choreographing skating programs to this song or that song interspersed with fantasies of playing bari in the pit orchestra for Hairspray on Broadway.
Basically, this movie totally, utterly lived up to its purpose as a musical. And it was a really entertaining movie outside of the musical elements. And Christopher Walken is in it, which makes it a must-see. So, Hairspray has it all.
Tracy Turnblad (Blonsky) is a high schooler who loves to dance as she watches "The Corny Collins Show," a music-variety-dance hour. When the show calls for auditions for another dancer, Tracy shows up to show off her moves, but she is immediately kicked out not only because she's fat but because she's not racist like the station manager Velma (Pfeiffer) is. Because she missed class for the audition, she is sent to detention where all the black kids are. While she dances with Seaweed (Kelley) and the gang, she finds out that she can go dance on "The Corny Collins Show" on Negro Day, which is held once a month, and she catches the eye of another Corny dancer, Link (Efron), who could get her onto the show for good. Tracy dances her heart out on Negro Day and gets on the show thanks to Link and Corny, who both recognize talent when they see it, regardless of body size -- and Velma begins working immediately to get her and her liberal dreams of integration off her set. She sets out to seduce Tracy's father (Walken) in order to intimidate her mother (Travolta) into begging Tracy to quit the show.
Vibrant, well-crafted characters, spectacular music, gorgeous scenery, and splendid acting across the board combine to make this rendition of Hairspray a movie worth seeing, whether you're into musicals or not. Christopher Walken, of course, is spot on, and John Travolta's Travolta-ness is only slightly distracting from the Edna Turnblad character. Nikki Blonsky is gorgeous and inspirational as Tracy Turnblad, and Amanda Bynes, though slightly vapid at the start, turns out a fun, multi-faceted performance as Tracy's friend and crazy Christian fundie-mom's daughter Penny. Queen Latifah, as always, belts it out as both a musician and an actor, and newcomers such as Elijah Kelley as Seaweed and Taylor Parks as Little Inez manage to shine as talented individuals even under this seemingly endless list of talented actors, dancers, and musicians.
It seems like Hairspray would be a rather superficial film -- white-centric, perhaps, or focused primarily on makeup and low self-esteem and competing for boys via dance-offs. But it's not like that at all. Tracy is an idealistic do-gooder who wants to change the world -- or at least her world -- by dancing. She may be fat, but she doesn't take shit from anyone, and she doesn't let others' perceptions of her bring her or her jiving hips down. She uses her experience as a marginalized individual to reach out to the also marginalized black community, befriending and fighting racism with them. All the while, she brings her mother and father back together by showing them that they, too, can and should ignore what the rest of the world thinks and just be in love. Not only is it not superficial, but it does a pretty good job dealing with the heady issues of self-acceptance, racism, fatphobia, and general tolerance.
Yes, it's a utopian movie and I'm an idealist at heart. Shoot me.
I adored this movie, every last second of it. I wanted to dance and sing until I couldn't anymore when it ended, and now I want to go watch it again and again and memorize every step, word, and beat. But, you know, if you're just not that into musicals, you should go see this for the Walken effect. Really. I know it sounds like I'm harping on it, but he is always spectacular -- this movie is no exception. Besides, who wouldn't want to see John Travolta as Edna being serenaded by Christopher Walken by candlelight among hanging laundry?
Overall: A