Hairspray
Based on the hit Broadway musical, which was itself based on John Waters’ 1988 film, Hairspray is an unexpectedly delightful musical comedy set in Maryland during the pop heyday of the early 1960s. Overweight Tracy Turnblad dreams of dancing on local TV station’s pop music programme, The Corny Collins Show, and wants to audition. Her equally overweight shut-in mother discourages this, as she fears her daughter’s feelings will be hurt, but her eccentric joke-shop owner father encourages her to go for it. After learning some dance moves from black students she ends up in school detention with, Tracy succeeds in getting on the show, largely due to presenter Corny Collins’s progressive views on wanting to integrate black and white people on the programme. But icy producer Velma von Tussle wants to keep the show predominately white, with a “Negro day” every so often for Rhythm and Blues music. She also takes a dislike to Tracy whom she fears will steal the “Miss Teenage Hairspray” crown from her bitchy daughter, Amber.
This is as much an interesting look at a footnote in US civil rights history as a feel good celebration of the innocence and fun of a bygone pop era. It’s proof that one doesn’t have to make a preachy heavy drama to tackle important issues such as institutionalised racism. I was never a huge fan of the John Waters original, but this is a surprisingly entertaining musical reinvention. Leslie Dixon’s witty screenplay zips along at a tremendous pace, and director Adam Shankman choreographs the fine musical numbers with flair, even opening with a kind of West Side Story homage.
It’s become a tradition for the role of Tracy’s mother to be portrayed by a man in drag, and here John Travolta gamely does his best to disturbing and hilarious effect. He isn’t as convincing as, say, Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie, but given how hard it is to pull off such a role, due credit must be given. In the lead role, Tracy’s is an absolute delight, charming and innocent, yet ultimately rising above her naivety to take part in a civil rights rally that ends in a clash with police. She also finds romance in the form of Corny Collins show regular Link (Zac Efron), an up and coming star who agrees with her views on integration but is reluctant to voice them for fear of Velma (a wonderfully nasty Michelle Pfeiffer) ruining his career.
Elsewhere, James Marsden is excellent as Corny Collins, taking the role beyond obligatory cheesy grins and imbuing the character with a hefty dose of moral fortitude. Queen Latifah exudes patient righteous indignation as Motormouth Maybelle, the presenter of “Negro Day. Taylor Parks has a small but pivotal role as her daughter Little Inez, Amanda Bynes is wonderful as Tracy’s best friend Penny, and Elijah Kelley is equally winning as the black boy she falls in love with her a cute subplot. Finally, the always brilliant Christopher Walken steals the show as Tracy’s amusingly eccentric father, providing many of the films best jokes. Speaking of jokes, some of them are a little rude, and might upset certain Christian audiences I know. They will also be annoyed by Alison Janney’s unfortunate and extremely irritating portrayal of Penny’s mother as a racist loony, Bible-bashing Christian.
But such nits aside, this is a must-see for fans of the genre, and is deserves to be seen far more than most of the dross currently clogging up multiplexes. A dead cert for cult status, see it first, before everyone rediscovers it later.
Simon Dillon, July 2007.
