Review of Hairspray (2007) by Kenk — 22 Jul 2007

The cascading harmonies collapse in the 50's style numbers. Tracies further push into the sixties is unexplained. Travolta singularly reaches out to create a look and feel for the show, but no one followed him.

The result, the characters fail to gel. Walken, a joke store owner? Can't buy it. Miss Baltimore Crabs number was forgettable. You're Timeless to Me wasn't convincing. On stage, the entire audience said "Awwww" when it was finished.

The film didn't need the overplay on integration as if it needed to be taught to young viewers. The finale was edited to pieces to the point where I spent half of it looking for the lead characters.

The whole finale storyboard set-up crumbles. How sad that Shankman made us want to believe that Mr. Turnblat and Link were turned on by big rumps, but they're not! Edna is loved for her inner beauty and Link is hot for Tracy because her talent transcended her size, not because either has a fetish.

The movie didn't grab me as visually as the musical did. Did we have to have fireworks in Baltimore for the sake of adding color? Desperate films employ desperate measures. I will watch this movie two more times because I am a fan of the original and the musical, but all in all, it comes in a disappointing third.