“Hairspray”New Line CinemaDirected by Adam ShankmanWritten by Leslie Dixon, based on the 2002 stage musicalStarring: John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Amanda Bynes, James Marsden, Queen Latifah, Brittany Snow, Zac Efron, Elijah Kelley and Nikki BlonskyRated PG/117 minutesOpened July 20, 2007Four out of four stars
If the appeal of an actress can be measured by how well she pulls off riding into school on top of a garbage truck, Nikki Blonsky has appeal to spare in Adam Shankman’s enormously entertaining “Hairspray,” based on the 2002 stage musical (itself based on the 1988 John Waters movie — Hollywood is in a recycling mood).
Blonsky hitches a ride on the truck after missing her bus and never looks anything less than radiant, all plucky determination and youthful innocence as she holds her arms out in the wind, ready to embrace the world. She missed her bus because she was too busy singing, “Good morning, Baltimore!” and shaking her ample rump to a ’60s beat that only she and anyone else hip-with-the-times enough can groove to.
Blonksy’s performance as the hefty — though light on her feet — Tracy Turnblad is a frothy, bubbly delight, and I was amazed how smoothly her journey shifts from wannabe dancer on a ’60s bandstand TV program (they don’t want her on the air because she’s — well, different in size from the twiggy girls her age) to frontline marcher for civil rights (the bandstand show is strictly segregated at the behest of a WASP-y dragon woman played to purr-fection by Michelle Pfeiffer).
When Tracy ignorantly asks why whites and blacks don’t just get along, a black DJ played by Queen Latifah answers, “Did you sleep through history class?” Tracy blinks and looks defensive: “Of course I did!” In Tracy’s sweet mind, the color of your skin or the size of your pants shouldn’t limit your potential.
“Hairspray” is a glorious, often very funny celebration of progress, set to some terrific songs and dance numbers (with music and lyrics by Marc Shaiman, who also wrote the brilliant songs for “South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut” and “Team America,” which ought to earn this movie some cool points from the college crowd.)
One of my favorite songs was “Welcome to the ’60s,” in which Tracy drags her dowdy, homebody mom out of the house and shows her all the fun she’s been missing.
By now I’m sure you’ve seen or read that Tracy’s rotund mama is played by John Travolta in mounds of makeup, wigs and muumuus — a casting gimmick that I was sure would fall flat. But the inclusion of a man dressed in drag playing a woman in a story about accepting people’s differences feels?I don’t know. Natural. It doesn’t hurt that Travolta goes whole hog (no pun intended) into the role, flicking his wrists, wiggling his massive bum and going all flirty with Christopher Walken, who plays Tracy’s dad with his usual nimble footedness. In short, Travolta is a hoot (and, boy, can he dance under all that heavy make-up).
Director Adam Shankman (who also choreographed the dancing) previously directed “A Walk to Remember,” “The Pacifier” and “Cheaper by the Dozen 2” — not exactly the brightest of rsums. He seems to have finally found his footing with “Hairspray,” maintaining a goofy tone that both mocks and embraces the ’60s era.
The energy level is high and constant, both from the cast and from the cameramen, who dynamically shoot the action instead of plopping the camera in front-row-center, like most Broadway-to-movie adaptations do (“So un-cinematic,” John Waters would say with a dismissive wave of his hand).
In a summer full of transforming jets, swinging spidermen and swashbuckling pirates, “Hairspray” slays them all with hands-down the most unabashed fun to be had in a movie theater for some time.