HAIRSPRAY MOVIE REVIEWS!!!!!!

[DAME]

Posted: 7/2/07 at 5:57pm

Variety is in. Loved the movie. Not thrilled with the casting. Still.. a very good review.
Hairspray

[DAME]

Posted: 7/2/07 at 6:02pm

"Oddly, adult roles rich in comedic potential are interpreted with not-so-special flair here. Sporting a vaguely Western drawl, Travolta doesn't offer much beyond the inherent wink-wink humor of seeing a famous male actor in latex-assisted fatsuit drag. Walken, who's played the mock Eisenhower-era dad before, can't wring laughs from the joke-shop material. Their marital-devotion duet, "Timeless to Me," indulges the performers beyond the mild amusement it affords.

Pfeiffer makes Velma eminently hissable, though her villainy could've been a lot funnier. Latifah, whose comic expertise particularly shone in Shankman's "Bringing Down the House," makes Maybelle more a model of dignified reserve than a sassy "motormouth." Allison Janney (as Penny's Bible-thumping mother), Jerry Stiller (1988's Mr. Turnblad, here the proprietor of Mr. Pinky's Hefty Hideaway) and Paul Dooley (the TV station's owner) are other reliable thesps who fall a little flat.

The kids, though, are just fine. Newcomer Blonsky is cute and spunky, and has a big voice with the right early-'60s-girl-group "tear" in it -- especially in her early highlight, "I Can Hear the Bells." Efron, Snow, Bynes and Parks all score points. But the real scene-stealer is Kelley, whose self-confident Seaweed socks across perhaps the movie's single most dynamic number ("Run")."

[DAME]

Posted: 7/2/07 at 6:10pm

Hollywood Reporter review is also very good.
reporter

[DAME]

Posted: 7/2/07 at 6:15pm

"John Travolta takes on John Waters in "Hairspray," and the result is anything but a drag in this appealingly goofy, all-singing, all-dancing screen adaptation of the Broadway musical based on the 1988 film.

Although it has lost a good portion of that Waters subversive edge along the way and it takes a little while to find its footing, the still-amusing if frenetic results make for an improvement over the similar transition made by 2005's "The Producers."

The lure of seeing Travolta going back to his musical roots -- albeit while encased in a 30-pound, full-body fat suit -- and backed by a sparkling supporting cast including Christopher Walken, Michelle Pfeiffer and Queen Latifah, should ensure that this summer confection generates some buoyant box office.

Also returning to his roots here is choreographer-turned-director Adam Shankman ("Bringing Down the House," "The Pacifier"), and his broader instincts in both capacities work in the picture's favor.

From the moment bouncy newcomer Nikki Blonsky (as bouncy, young Tracy Turnblad) pops up singing the opening number "Good Morning Baltimore" while perched atop a garbage truck, the picture's genially trashy tone is neatly established.

Travolta doesn't make his first appearance for another 10 minutes or so, as Tracy's overly protective, sheltered mother, Edna, but once you get over the transformation, not to mention that disconcertingly odd accent that sounds something like a cross between Carol Channing and Cher, he wins you over.

Outfitted with noticeably more curvaceous padding than predecessors Divine and Harvey Fierstein, Travolta still manages to pull off some nimble moves that are somehow reminiscent of those dancing hippos in Walt Disney's "Fantasia."