Hairspray review

I knew going in that "Hairspray" was going to be one of the gayer movie experiences I was likely to see all year, and it did NOT disappoint.

By gay, of course, I mean both happy AND appealing to homosexicals, several of whom didn't have any problem with jumping up out of their seats and dancing along with the movie as soon as it got started. I'm a song-and-dance man myself, so I wasn't put off at all (ok, maybe it was a little obnoxious), but mostly I just found it over-the-top and amusing.

Which kind sums up the movie itself. The exuberance in the audience was a perfect match for what was happening onscreen. This "Hairspray" is a movie adaptation of a Broadway show based on a John Waters movie (got it?!) about overweight, relentlessly upbeat Baltimore teen Tracy Turnblad (newcomer and former Cold Stone employee Nikki Blonsky).

Tracy's obsessively watches the Corny Collins Show, a local TV dance show, with her best friend Penny Pingleton (Amanda Bynes). Tracy gets an opportunity to audition for the show and quickly encounters prejudice both superficial (she's much plumper than anyone else on the show) and racial, when she realizes her detention hall friends, including Seaweed (Elijah Kelley), aren't allowed to dance with the white kids and instead get their own "Negro Day" on the Corny Collins Show.

In case you didn't guess, Tracy quickly sets about breaking down all these barriers and, in turn, inspiring her mom Edna (John Travolta, yes THAT John Travolta) to start living her life.

Director and choreographer (don't usually see THAT credit) Adam Shankman has created an appealing, candy-colored 1960's Baltimore. Most of his musical numbers (especially opening number "Good Morning, Baltimore" and any sequence on the Corny Collins Show) pop, but eventually they became a bit too similar and repetitive for me.

Still, the unbelievably talented cast keeps you interested, and I was particularly impressed by the youngsters. Nikki Blonsky makes a confident screen debut as the appealing heroine. Also, watching her large frame dance so nimbly with such unabashed joy is a pleasure. Amanda Bynes stole almost every scene she was in without saying much, although I wondered whether her character was slightly mentally challenged at several points. She had some strong chemistry with Kelley (who I'd never seen before in my life), who was terrific as Seaweed, particularly during his big number "Run and Tell That."

Efron was also solid as heartthrob Link Larkin, and James Marsden (Cyclops in the X-Men movies) was probably the most pleasant surprise as the appropriately named Corny Collins.

I thought I'd be blown away by the older cast members while the youngsters bogged it down, but the opposite happened.

Christopher Walken was his typical kooky self as Tracy's dad, but even he seemed a little too weird for this movie. Michelle Pfeiffer looked like she had fun playing uptight villain, Velma Von Tussle, but her character was too one-dimensional to really care about and she didn't really get to shine during her musical number. Queen Latifah, doing the sassy black woman thing for the 22nd consecutive time was kind of underwhelming as "Negro Day" host Motormouth Maybelle. I think I actually fell asleep during her protest/march song.

Then there's John Travolta. I still can't figure out whether his performance worked. I mean, he was going for a Baltimore accent, but he ended up sounding more like Dr. Evil. Also, every one of his scenes with Walken was the kind of funny they probably weren't going for. Still, he does eventually (and impressively in that 30lbs-fat suit) get down with to dancing with the rest of the cast (who doesn't love watching John Travolta dance onscreen). Also, by the end, I sorta believed that he was a woman, so I guess that's something.

Hairspray's not for everybody, though it IS for me as you can see there on the right. Ok, that's not so much hairspray as it is Glade air freshener, but I digress. Bottom line, if you like musicals (and I do!) this movie is one of the more fun/bizarre times you'll have at the movies this year.

Hairspray...B