Hairspray 2007

"Mom, I just saw this movie a week ago and I want to see it again. You have to see it!"

So I went with my 22 year old daughter to see it. One week later...

"Mom, I just saw this movie a week ago and I want to see it again. You have to see it!"

So I went with my 74 year old mother to see it.

Easily the best musical to come along in a long time and I really liked Dreamgirls.

Not that there have been a lot of musicals in the past twenty years. Musicals belong to the 40's, 50's and 60's and the exception of Grease in the 70's. Then they died. It was a painful death and only the Disney animation studio managed to be successful at weaving music and story together. Yes occasionally we had a decent one like The Little Shop of Horrors, but the days of Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music and My Fair Lady were gone.

Meanwhile on stage, musicals were a big hit. Why they didn't go to screen successfully I don't know. The new gang in Hollywood weren't interested.

And then a few years ago Moulin Rouge came out. Who knew that Nicole Kidman could sing? Trouble is that although I enjoyed the frantic almost psychedelic cinematography on the large screen, I couldn't get into it on TV.

Then the television studios decided to redo some of the old musicals. We saw Brandy as "Cinderella", China Phillips and Jason Alexander take the roles made famous by Anne Margaret and Dick Van Dyke in "Bye Bye Birdie", Bette Midler chomp her teeth into "Gypsy", and Matthew Broderick as the "Music Man".

It was great fun although the critics hated it.

Then "Chicago" came out. A dark tale of murder. No one felt especially good after leaving that movie no matter how well the music and story were done.

And then Jennifer Hudson won the Oscar in "Dreamgirls." If you watch her signature song where she's kicked out of the group, you'll understand why she won that Oscar.

Note: I have not seen High School Musical so I can't comment on it.

Interestingly although Dreamgirls tells a tale about a girls group in show business, it comes across as much darker and heavier than Hairspray which is about the far more serious subject of segregation.

Hairspray takes it's cue from the musicals of the 50's and yes from Grease as well.

In spite of the serious message, the whole movie is just plain fun!

Taking place in May and June of 1962 it's about a teenage girl who dreams of dancing on the local all white Corny Collins show (think Dick Clark's American Bandstand) and then wants to conquer the problem of segregation. Tracy is blessed with a loyal best friend, supportive loving parents and a spirit of fairness and adventure.

It starts the moment newcomer Nikki Blonsky (her first professional role) wakes up and starts singing "Good Morning Baltimore" and continues through the closing credits as the three actresses who portrayed Tracy Turnbald (first movie, Broadway, and current movie) sing "I'm a Big Girl Now."

The look of the movie reminds me of the old style musicals where bright colors and clear images were the rule. The clothes by the way are fabulous! I asked my mother if they really dressed that way in 1962 and she said yes they did. It's too bad we don't have some of those fashions now. Oh wait, my 14 year old daughter does have a dress with a crinoline in an early 60's cut. And it's a fabulous dress that she loves. Yes, I used fabulous twice in one paragraph. And lets face it, a straight knee length skirt, flats and a light sweater always look great. Still, it would be nice to see these clothes make a bigger come back.

As for the music, unlike many musicals where the songs sometimes stop things all together, every number in this movie carries the story forward and almost all of the music is memorable.

Highlights for me, were "Good Morning Baltimore" the opening number where we meet Tracy and the world she lives in including flashers, rats and the drunk that waves hello; "Welcome to the Sixties" a number that involves Tracy taking her agoraphobic mother (played amusingly by John Travolta) out to the Hefty store to sign a contract and get make overs; "You're Timeless to Me" where Tracy's parents Wilbur (Christopher Walken) and Edna sing and dance among the laundry, that even though your fat and balding and old I still love you; Queen Latifah as Motormouth Maybelle singing the inspiring "I Know Where I've Been" as she's on a protest march; "Run and Tell That" with Seaweed (Elijah Kelly) and a bunch of kids getting on the bus singing how the darker the berry the sweeter the juice; "Without Love" where Tracy and her friend Penny (Amanda Bynes) are rescued from Penny's crazy mother; and the finale "You Can't Stop the Beat" which has so many things going on that it's a wonder they ever got through it.

Talk about long run on sentences.

Nikki is perfectly optimistic and perky as the short rotund Tracy who really doesn't care that she's short and rotund because nothing will stop her from getting her dreams.

John Travolta gives a funny and sweet performance as Edna, Tracy's protective mom who is afraid to have people see how heavy she's gotten. In fact one of the sad spots in the movie is when Edna protests going out with Tracy saying "I haven't been out since 1951". Yet in spite of all her protests, she proves to be the one who changes and grows the most. You always know it's John Travolta and yet you can put it away and believe that he really is Edna Turnblat and Tracy's mom. This is not a role of a man pretending to be a woman. This is a woman. And even the love duet with Christopher Walken seems believable. Hard to think that Edna was also Danny Zuko singing Greased Lighting.

Christopher Walken is the perfect father. Sweet, dorky, funny, gentle and completely devoted to his family and happy in his joke shop.

Amanda Bynes is mostly quiet as Tracy's best friend Penny but she comes into her own at the end of the movie showing that she does indeed have some gumption.

James Marsden proves he can sing and dance and be handsome as the Dick Clark like host of the Corny Collins Show and breaks a stereotype that stars are self-centered and demanding. In fact he's the voice of reason in the craziness that he works in and it's Corny who decides that it doesn't matter what Tracy looks like, she deserves to dance on the show.

Michelle Pffiefer is deliciously wicked and beautiful as Velma Von Tussle, an aging beauty queen, producer of the Corny Collins show and mother to the favorite Amber who dances on the show. Every story has a bad guy and you don't get much better than this. As a side note, Michelle also played the lead in Grease 2, which never should have been made but it wasn't her fault. And check out that fabulous (there's that word again) red dress she wears when she goes after Tracy's father.

Brittany Snow is Amber, a snide jealous girl who hates Tracy. Brittany by the way was also a lead in the too soon cancelled TV show American Dreams, about a girl who becomes a regular on American Bandstand in the 60's. I notice this movie likes to have fun with the casting.

Queen Latifah brings dignity, beauty, and charm to Motormouth Maybelle, the host of "Negro Day", owner of a record store, and mother to Seaweed and Inez.

Okay, I know that I'm a grandmother, but Zac Efron is gorgeous in his role as Link. He's the dreamy boy that all the girls go crazy over, one of the stars of the Corny Collins show, and the boy that Tracy loves. He too breaks a stereotype. He's by no means a jerk, stupid or shallow.

Elijah Kelley brings a great voice and dancing to his role as Seaweed. You can totally understand why Penny falls for him.

Allison Janney (West Wing) is hilarious as Penny's crazy overprotective religious zealot mother.

My favorite lines:

Motormouth Maybelle as she's talking to her son Seaweed and Penny about their romance: Well, love is a gift, a lot of people don't remember that. So, you two better brace yourselves for a whole lotta ugly comin' at you from a neverending parade of stupid.

Penny : So you've met my mom.

*****
Penny's mom tying Penny to the bed: Penny Lou Pingleton, you are absolutely, positively, permanently punished. You will live on a diet of saltines and Tang, and you will never leave this room again!
Tosses sprinkles of holy water on Penny: Devil Child! Devil Child!

*****
Edna Turnblad: No one is auditioning for anything in this house!

Tracy Turnblad: But why not? Why not?

Edna Turnblad: Dancing is not your future. One day, you're going to own Edna's Occidental Laundry.

Tracy Turnblad: I don't want to be a laundress. I want to be famous.

Edna Turnblad: If you want to be famous, learn how to take blood out of car upholstery. That's a move you can take right to the bank.
*****
(Same scene)
Edna Turnblad: Well, I had a dream that I would own a coin-operated laundromat but I came down from that cloud real quickly!

*****
(Same scene)

Edna Turnblad: First the hair, now this?

Wilbur Turnblad: But, all the kids are battin' up their hair now, hon.

Edna Turnblad: [to Wilbur] You're no help.

Tracy Turnblad: It's ratting, daddy. [to Edna] And our first lady, Jacqueline Kennedy does it!

Edna Turnblad: I don't believe that.

Tracy Turnblad: What do you mean you don't believe that? How else would it look that way?

Edna Turnblad: I believe that it is naturally stiff.

*****
Link Larkin: I was just at home, practicing my new twist on The Twist, when I overheard it on the news. I can't believe Tracy savagely bludgeoned an Eagle Scout. That's just not like her.

Edna Turnblad: But it's not true! I was there! He didn't even bleed.

Link Larkin: I shoulda been there, beside her. I can't sleep. I can't eat...

Edna Turnblad: You can't eat? Well, come on in and worry with us. I'll make you some pork.

Link has just finished singing "Without Love" a song about his feelings towards Tracy who is missing..
Edna (from offstage): Link, your pork is ready!

*****
Wilbur Turnblad: [to a sobbing Edna] Honey, it took me five years to realize you were flirting!

************
Some have compared this movie to Grease. I loved Grease but hated the message at the end of it and always wished they went a different way. Hairspray doesn't leave a bad taste at the end of it. The message is positive. Also Grease had a lot of questionable content. I was an adult when I found out what John Travolta was really singing in Greased Lighting, but as far as I know there aren't any surprises like that in Hairspray. Yes there are a few sexual innuendos, but nothing blatant like Grease.

It's rated PG for language (don't worry, nothing really bad there), and teenage smoking by extras (none of the main characters smoked). I would let my kids watch this.

Easily the best movie of the year (and yes I'm including Harry Potter in that, and I loved Harry Potter).

Will it win any Oscars? If it does it will be in music, costumes, sets and cinematography. It's far to0 light hearted and fun to win the major ones.

So go see it, and take your mother, or your daughter.

By the way, on our way out of the movie theater when I went with my mother, there were a small group of 60 year old women dancing to the music. After all it was their teenage years that we just watched.