Hairspray

While visiting my mother last week, we decided to go to a movie. In situations like this, sometimes you have to bite the bullet and see something you otherwise wouldn't see. My mother likes musicals, so we went to see Hairspray. I'm glad I did, because it was mostly enjoyable.

Based on the Broadway show that was in turn based on a film by John Waters, Hairspray is the story of Tracy Turnblad, an overweight but endlessly cheerful teen in 1962 Baltimore. She wants to be on the local dance show (sort of like American Bandstand), but faces opposition due to her size. In the course of this adventure, she manages to coax her plus-size mother out of the house for the first time in years, and manages to make huge strides in integrating local television.

This is all told in a manner that is almost a cartoon, with bright colors and bouncy musical numbers. The key to a good musical is good songs, and thankfully Hairspray has them. The opening number, Good Morning, Baltimore, tries to avoid being too sunny by including rats, perverts and alcoholics to the things Tracy loves about her home town. Most of the songs are peppy, upbeat, and reminiscent of the early sixties time-frame, and that's fine with me.

The performances are broad, but generally good. Michelle Pfeiffer vamps it up as the villainous TV station manager, whose equally vain daughter, Brittany Snow, is the lead dancer. Nikki Blonsky, who was plucked from obscurity to play Tracy, does just fine. Elijah Kelly is electrifying as Seaweed, one of the black kids who can only dance on the show on "Negro Day," when his mother, Queen Latifah, is the DJ. Amanda Bynes is appealingly goofy as Tracy's best friend, and Allison Janney is a hoot as her overly protective mother. And of course Christopher Walken, who can liven up even the most dreadful dross, is a joy to behold as Tracy's father, who runs a joke shop. When Pfeiffer attempts to seduce him, he responds with joy buzzers and bright red fright wigs.

As for John Travolta, who plays Tracy's mother, I have to ask: why was he cast? He does fine, going to town with the Baltimore accent. The original character was played by Divine in the film, and then Harvey Fierstein in the stage production. But both of these men were well-known for drag performances. Travolta has no history in this area, so it seems to me there's no reason this part couldn't have been played by a large woman.

Some of the film doesn't play well, particularly the civil rights angle. All of the integration talk is shrouded in a Hallmark card mist, which is almost an insult to the people who actually went through the struggle. Still, I can't help but think of how Waters initial attempt to make a film about how people who were different can still contribute to society has succeeded. When his film was turned into a musical he reacted with glee because he knew that when high schools put this production on it will be the fat girls who get the lead part.