Review of Hairspray (1988) by Wanyun O — 11 Nov 2008

A boring, slow dance film with the occasional dark or sick humour that doesn't fit, about several teenagers who dance on the Corny Collins Show and have to deal with segregation rules. There are two types of dance scene - the very boring repetitive kind where characters step to the right, then step back, over and over, or the dirty dancing type that undermines the integration plot by being obvious why this kind of dancing couldn't be allowed on live television in the sixties.

The integration plot is handled subtly at first, before becoming the full blown only plot by the half way mark, which makes the subtlety earlier pointless and feels as if the film should have just got on with its point in the first place.

The plot never comes to anything thanks to the far too large cast of heinously underdeveloped characters, especially apparent lead Tracy (Ricki Lake), who has no personality other than to be selfish and rude, and comes across as extremely unlikeable when she is given any characterisation at all. Divine in a duel role as Tracy's mother Edna and the station boss Arvin Hodgepile is terrible, and comes across as a dock worker rather than a woman and Edna has no personality. The only likeable and interesting characters are Corny Collins (Shawn Thompson), the host who just wants integration and Penny Pingleton (Leslie Ann Powers), the shy girl whose insane racist parents make life difficult when she falls for a black boy.