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Hairspray Falls Flat I know a little something about hairspray. Saw the original movie—saw the Broadway play—wouldn't be caught dead outside with using the product. As an "expert," I must disagree with the rave reviews this film has received. It's not that it isn't lighthearted, fun, and entertaining—it is. But I think that if a film is a remake the benchmark on whether it is good or not has to come from a comparison with the original to answer this question: Is it worth a trip to the movies or would you be better off renting the original from Netflicks? I think you are better off going with the original John Waters film. It does a much better job of telling the story and keeping the focus where it belongs—on Tracy Turnblatt and her high school friends and rivals. To be fair, much of that was lost when the original movie was adapted to become a musical. The narrative had to become thinner to make room for the musical numbers, most of which are pleasing, though forgettable. This wasn't a liability in the Broadway production, because the creativity of the sets and staging, along with the electricity that naturally accompanies a live performance was enough to put them over the top. But film, as a medium, has none of those advantages. In fact, the strength of film—the ability to actually create a real world for the characters to inhabit actually exposes the mediocrity of much of the music. As for the cast—Queen Latifah is clearly the standout and her musical number is far and away the most powerful part of the film. Nikki Blonsky is fabulous as Tracy. She's cute as a button and does a great job in portraying Tracy's infectious optimism in face of enormous odds. I just wanted to eat her up. Christopher Walken as Tracy's dad and Michelle Pfeiffer as her rival's mother are both great. Unfortunately, their musical numbers, as well as their characters are hobbled by the film's greatest flaw—the 800-pound elephant in the room—John Travolta as Tracy's ample mom, Edna. I suspected that Travolta's turn as Edna might not be all it's cracked up to be when coming attraction clips for the movie practically ignored him. I became even more suspicious by the huge media hype on the talk shows just before the film's opening that had all the cast members gushing over how amazing his transformation was. Once again, this is something that I'm somewhat of an expert in (see my profile). Nothing could be further from the truth in my opinion. Going back to the original film—Divine is monstrously fabulous as Edna. Travolta's Edna is just monstrous. Divine's Edna is a brash, opinionated survivor. Travolta's portrays her as a meek, dull-witted victim. It's a choice that brings down the whole film and ultimately keeps Hairspray, the musical, from holding its curl. email this review to a friend
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