Hairspray Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

I just saw this movie last night and was so totally blown away by the cast, the singing and just everything about the film.

I am a fan of the original and I cannot even begin to tell you how great they were able to remake this one. Not to take away from the original cast (Divine, Ricki Lake, Deborah Harry), but this new cast really did this film justice.

For those of you who loev the original and really enjoyed Divine as Edna Turnblad, just know that John Travolta really did an amazing job as the character. He was so funny. At times a bit creepy, but I think Divine did the same in the role.

A must see film for those who loved the original. The soundtrack was fabulous!

Oh yeah and John Waters makes an appearnace in the film as a flasher and Ricki Lake also makes an appearance as an agent. Awesome! I forgot to add Jerry Stiller as the dress shop owner.

"Hairspray" is the movie that Dreamgirls wanted to be in terms of energy and vitality. I had a blast watching this musical on the big screen, and it deserves to be seen on the big screen with a nice audio system providing a toe-tapping good time at the cinemas.

It stumbles just a smidge about 2/3 into the film, but overall, a nice adaptation from the original film and subsequent play. The cast members are fun to watch, and do their roles justice. Newcomer Nikki Blonski embraces her role as Tracy with much gusto and enthusiasm, a joy to watch.

I'm willing to nominate John Travolta for a Best Supporting Actress spot in this upcoming Oscar ballot.

I give it 3.75 stars, or a grade of A-.

I was hoping more people would respond to this thread. I guess not many are interest in this film?

I am probably going to see it again.

After reading the reviews and hearing the good word of mouth from friends that have seen it I really want to get a chance to see it, but I just flat out haven't had time to do it.

I'll probably go see it some time next week. This is something, I think, that probably needs to be seen on the big screen. I've heard nothing but good things about it.

This film was amazing! As a big fan of the original, I was very skeptical about this film, but by and large (no pun intended ) everything was just about perfect. Had I paid more attention and known Marc Shaiman was involved, I would never have worried. That guy has the golden touch when it comes to musicals. The music was incredible, not just in its arrangement but in the fact that the songs actually moved the plot along rather than just characters bursting into song for no apparent reason.

I was also a bit hesitant about the casting. I mean, Cyclops as Corny Collins? Zac "Disney" Efron as Linc? John Travolta??? I still found Travolta a little odd, but the rest of the cast was spot on. Allison Janney was especially surprising as Prudence Pingleton. Very funny!

The crowd had a blast at this film. If there's any justice, word of mouth will blow the roof off the box office for Hairspray. It must be drawing well, as the multiplex I was at was running it in the largest auditorium.

I don't think it will completely replace the original for me, but it doesn't have to. I think each can carve its own niche in cinema history. The original as a fun John Waters comedy and the remake as a crowd-pleasing musical treat.



I don't know if it was just my theater, but the audience for this film seemed to skew older and most of the trailers before the feature were for children's films...Mr. Magorium's Magic Emporium...The Golden Compass...Fred Claus...it just seemed like an audience mis-match.

We saw Hairspray on Thursday, and was completely won over by the music, energy, comedy, everything. The young lady in the lead role is fantastic, and John Travolta was terrific as her mom. We're ready to go see it again, and we NEVER go see movies twice in the theater. Hairspray has a definite place in our DVD collection, along with Little Shop of Horrors, which has a similar energy.

Saw it twice already, eager for a third helping.

AWESOME FILM, my new favorite.

My wife and I saw the Broadway production last weekend and we had a lot fun. We are looking forward to seeing this at the movie theater with our daughters soon.

Funny, I thought the exact opposite. I expected to be blown away having loved the Broadway show and the original movie but it lacked energy and that something special to make have goose bumps when you are leaving the theatre.
Travolta was distracting and the weak link.
B-

A couple of friends and I went to a matinée yesterday to see this. I haven't had so much fun at the cinema in years. After the movie we all stopped by Best Buy and bought the soundtrack.

After all these years Travolta still has the moves! Even in a fatsuit and high heels. I, also, especially liked Christopher Walken's performance as Wilbur.

I loved "Hairspray," much more than I expected. I saw it twice. It's such a fun movie, and I was blown away by James Marsden. He has an EXCELLENT singing voice.

I agree that this is what "Dreamgirls" wanted to be. IMO, the problem with "Dreamgirls" was that the song score was mediocre at best. I walked out of the theater not being able to recall the melody for ANY song in the film except, "I"m Telling You I'm Not Going."

With "Hairspray," I walked out of the theater singing the songs.

Wasn't a terribly successful film, though... barely broke $100 million at the box office, and it was a fairly high-budget film, I think.

Me too. It's been a month since I've seen it and I still break into "Welcome to the 60's" occasionally.

may as well put in my two cents since I was finally able to see this about a week ago.

I loved it. Not too surprising as I really liked the Original Broadway recording, but had never actually had a chance to see the show. I really liked the arrangements of the songs in the film and now that I own the movie soundtrack too I think I prefer it to the broadway recording simply because of the instrumental arrangements.

My only qualm with the film is, maybe surprisingly, NOT Travolta - whom I actually enjoyed as Edna, but rather it was Michelle Pfeiffer. I don't know, she just didn't really click with me in this role, like she was sort of sleep walking through it, but maybe my opinion would change with repeated viewings. The rest of the cast is stellar though, and there is no reason to ever doubt Walken in anything.

Definitely a great film IMO and nice to see a "tradition" movie musical do rather well at the Box Office rather than it having to be something along the lines of Moulin Rouge (which I love too, but it would be sad if only a movie full off remixed pop hits could pass as an actual movie musical).

I saw the film too, and I think it was pretty good. The only things I didn't like were Travolta's disturbing accent, and the blown-out lighting. And the hip-hop styled song at the end credits was out of place. I saw the play on Broadway in April, and I also enjoyed it, too. But neither of them will ever replace John Waters' original, nor are they intended to.