Review

Review Date: 29-July-07
Spoiler Rating: High
Juju Judgment: Juicy

Hairspray (2007)

Broadway shows require a certain style of emoting where the players sing, talk, and move bigly. Too bigly for me, usually, but in the case of Hairspray big is beautiful. It began as a charming '80s movie which became a Broadway show which is now a '00s musical whose bigness fits perfectly on the big screen. I think I will buy the soundtrack a.s.a.p. so I have it memorized in case a sing-along version tours college towns and independent theaters.

Oh, now that's a good idea. A sing-along Hairspray would be so much fun! The upbeat fantasy unfolds almost entirely through music as the cheerful heroine, Tracy Turnblad (Nikki Blonsky), negotiates the precarious world of 1960s Baltimore, where being overweight is nearly as challenging as being black. Tracy enjoys the love of her gargantuan mother (John Travolta in fat suit and lipstick) and mild-mannered father (Christopher Walken in geek wear), but she craves the romance of Baltimore's teen dance program, the Corny Collins Show, and its resident dreamboat, Link Larkin (Zac Efron). Miraculously (or due to her fervent optimism?), a school detention introduces Tracy to a dancer from Corny Collins' monthly "Negro Day" (Elijah Kelley) and to Link himself, who encourages her to try out for the show. At which she immediately breaks into song about the path to their inevitable marriage.

But the path to bliss is rarely free of obstacles, and finales would not satisfy without a bad guy to beat. Tracy's nemesis wears a bleached bouffant and painted nails and is icily played by Michelle Pfeiffer. (We've got ties to both Grease and Grease 2!) As the venomous manager of the Corny Collins Show, as well as the mother of its female star (Brittany Snow), Velma Von Tussle opposes all threats to the supremacy of her family or skin color. But her scheming and cruel dismissal of Tracy cannot stem the tide of progress. Backed by her parents, her best friend (Amanda Bynes), Corny (James Marsden), and the Negro Day deejay (Queen Latifah, who belts out two showstoppers), Tracy storms the set in all her rotund glory and launches a protest against racial segregation. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all!

Of course love triumphs too, and nowhere more sweetly than an old-fashioned duet between Travolta and Walken in the moonlight. (There's something I never thought I'd write.) This scene raised applause from the audience, but the whole movie induces tapping toes and clapping hands. Hairspray is simply to dye for!

Copyright © 2007 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.