Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

Am I Missing Something?

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Hairspray marks something of a departure for director John Waters; a man best known for his 'bad taste' pictures such as Pink Flamingos and Female Trouble. The film still features Waters' style, but the bad taste is massively toned down and the whole feel of the movie could be described as 'John Waters Lite'. The film is set in 1962 Baltimore and music is the major focus of the film. Waters obviously realised that the style of it would be the major attraction; and as such has taken time to lay it on as thick as possible, and this blends well with the music and storyline. The plot focuses on a corny music show enjoyed by the teens in Baltimore. 'Pleasantly plump' Tracy Turnblad is one of the many obsessed by this show and sets out to get a role as one of the dancers. She achieves her goal and soon becomes a local hero, but she loses some friends when she decides to use her success in order to speak out for what she believes in - namely social integration.While John Waters' style is one of the best things about the movie, in another way it's one of the worst. In his earlier films, the content is generally distracting enough for the audience not to really notice the rather boring directorial style; but this film doesn't have that, and while the style is a big enough distraction at first; it soon becomes clear that the plot is rather lacking and the film becomes dull before we even reach the halfway point. Hairspray stars Ricki Lake in the lead role, and she does a rather good job with it. The role doesn't require any great acting talents, but she is at least bright and breezy for the duration. The rest of the cast is filled out nicely by an eclectic list of names, which includes Debbie Harry, Divine, Pia Zadora and even the director himself in an amusing role as a psychologist. The message regarding segregation may well be a good one; but really it's not all that interesting and isn't put forward particularly well, and that's where the film falls down. Overall, I do like the style of the film and appreciate the ideas behind it; but it's not well executed and I don't rate it among Waters' best efforts.

1st watched 11/12/2008- (Dir-John Waters): Fun and surprisingly watchable John Waters film about an overweight teen trying to make it on a 50's dance show. Rikki Lake is great in the lead and Divine does a good job as her understanding mother. Despite the filmmakers reputation there are very few gross-out scenes and a good anti-racial theme protecting both overweight people and blacks. The movie has a silly premise and approach but actually does a good job of showing how stupid some of the laws against African-Americans were in the fifties and the sixties. The movie also just flat out entertains and doesn't try to take itself too seriously. I'm actually now looking forward to watching other John Water's films because of this one although I'm sure most of them are not as tame as this one.

I was reading a user comment on here and someone actually said that Divine does not even compare to John Travolta as Edna. I can't even believe it! Anyone with even half a brain knows that Divine is so much better. Ricki Lake is so winning, and why isn't Leslie Ann Powers in anything else? ever? I think it's very rare to find a mainstream movie actress on IMDb.com with only one credit! I love John Waters and wished he used Mink Stole more in this movie, since she is amazing. Divine's Edna is such a fabulous mother--"I'm trying to iiiiiiiiiiiiron.." and "it's the times--they're a-changin'". Love it. The remake I would rate a 2/10. This one is so much better in every single way.

Being a pleasantly plump teenage girl who loves to sing and dance myself,I absolutely adore this movie! Any movie where the fat girl steals the dreamy heart throb from the "perfect" skinny girl is a favorite of mine. This movie is empowering to big girls everywhere, even if they do have to shop at the "Hefty Hideaway." And personally, I think Rikki Lake was much more entertaining before she lost all the weight. When was the last time you saw her talk show or saw her in a movie? The musical version of Hairspray is one of my favorite shows and I would LOVE to play Tracy onstage. Waters may have his critics, but he sure knows how to direct a good cult classic.