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Undescribable Perfection

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

It's 1960s Baltimore. Tracy Turnblad (Ricki Lake) and her best friend Penny Pingleton (Leslie Ann Powers) are obsessed with The Corny Collins Show and audition for the all-white local TV show. Blacks are relegated to Negro Day. Tracy becomes a hit infuriating queen bee Amber Von Tussle (Colleen Fitzpatrick) and her stage mom Velma (Debbie Harry). Amber's father Franklin Von Tussle (Sonny Bono) owns Tilted Acres amusement park. Tracy befriends the black students in school and record store owner Motormouth Maybelle. She starts dating Maybelle's son Seaweed and joins an effort to integrate the show.It's campy fun. John Waters keeps his weird indie extravagances in check to bring something a little more mainstream. He dives into issues that are near and dear to his heart. The deliberate corn is endearing although it could use more outright laughs. This is a really sincere and touching movie. The actors led by Ricki Lake are mostly good.

As I watched this movie I was amazed at the fact that this movie attempts to break racial barriers and stereotypes, but the stereotypes regarding psychiatry (as well as beatniks in the 1960's) are over the top and I guess some call it "campy" but as a therapist who works in psychiatry I found it difficult to digest. My 11 year old had a much harder time watching this 1988 version. It was definitely groundbreaking at the time, but I am amazed at the attitudes that are reflected in this version--we've come such a long way in the past 20 years!We love the newer version--more energy, more fun, more comedy! The scene with John Travolta and Chris Walken dancing in the newer version is priceless.

Hairspray marks something of a departure for director John Waters; a man best known for his 'bad taste' pictures such as Pink Flamingos and Female Trouble. The film still features Waters' style, but the bad taste is massively toned down and the whole feel of the movie could be described as 'John Waters Lite'. The film is set in 1962 Baltimore and music is the major focus of the film. Waters obviously realised that the style of it would be the major attraction; and as such has taken time to lay it on as thick as possible, and this blends well with the music and storyline. The plot focuses on a corny music show enjoyed by the teens in Baltimore. 'Pleasantly plump' Tracy Turnblad is one of the many obsessed by this show and sets out to get a role as one of the dancers. She achieves her goal and soon becomes a local hero, but she loses some friends when she decides to use her success in order to speak out for what she believes in - namely social integration.While John Waters' style is one of the best things about the movie, in another way it's one of the worst. In his earlier films, the content is generally distracting enough for the audience not to really notice the rather boring directorial style; but this film doesn't have that, and while the style is a big enough distraction at first; it soon becomes clear that the plot is rather lacking and the film becomes dull before we even reach the halfway point. Hairspray stars Ricki Lake in the lead role, and she does a rather good job with it. The role doesn't require any great acting talents, but she is at least bright and breezy for the duration. The rest of the cast is filled out nicely by an eclectic list of names, which includes Debbie Harry, Divine, Pia Zadora and even the director himself in an amusing role as a psychologist. The message regarding segregation may well be a good one; but really it's not all that interesting and isn't put forward particularly well, and that's where the film falls down. Overall, I do like the style of the film and appreciate the ideas behind it; but it's not well executed and I don't rate it among Waters' best efforts.

It is hard to believe that we are celebrating the 20th anniversary of this film this week. It is even harder to believe that just one week after it opened Divine left the world's stage forever.But, the star of the show was Ricki Lake in her first year as a film actress. She camped up John Water's script and delivered an enjoyable musical movie with a message that is just as important today as it was 20 years ago.It was really interesting seeing people like Sonny Bono, Blondie, Jerry Stiller, Pia Zadora, and, of course, writer/director John Waters himself.A goofy satire that is just as good today as it was then.