Hairspray [PG]

With big hair, a huge grin, and all the right moves, Tracy Turnblad’s dreams are about to come true when she is accepted to dance on Baltimore’s number one TV show, The Corny Collins Show. Showing everyone how to Madison, Cha Cha, Pony, and Twist, Tracy’s out to let all of Baltimore know that she’s big, blonde, and beautiful. 

The original comedy classic that later became a Tony Award winning musical on Broadway, John Waters’ Hairspray is a delightfully quirky and off-centre comedy filled with familiar faces, plenty of music, heaps of dancing, and racial messages. It’s a treat from start to finish. 

With big hair, a huge grin, and all the right moves, Tracy Turnblad’s dreams are about to come true when she is accepted to dance on Baltimore’s number one TV show, The Corny Collins Show. Showing everyone how to Madison, Cha Cha, Pony, and Twist, Tracy’s about to rock Baltimore’s segregation policies and let everyone know that she’s big, blonde, and beautiful. 

Aside from its stable story that’s filled with comedy and romance as well as a few racial messages, what really makes Hairspray so intriguing is its interesting cast. Ricki Lake stars as Tracy Turnblad and she was delightful. You could almost see the stars in her eyes when she first gets accepted on the Corny Collins dance council. She gave a performance that was charming, opinionated, stylish, and cute. A delight for start to finish. 

Joining Ricki’s Madison line is Divine, Jerry Stiller, Sonny Bono, Debbie Harry, Mink Stole, Shawn Thompson, Clayton Prince, Leslie Ann Powers, Ruth Brown, Colleen Fitzpatrick, and Michael St. Gerard. How interesting a mix is that? 

I mentioned before that the film is rather quirky and a little off-centre. This effect is achieved through the cast’s over-acted performances. The entire film is rather camp and flamboyant, but of course there is nothing wrong with that, it makes for good entertainment. 

Filled with dancing, music, racial messages, pop stars, familiar faces, romance, and comedy, Hairspray is a great little film that keeps you intrigued and one that I’m quite happy to have in my collection. Love it!