Hairspray
I talked the Snook into going with me this afternoon to see Hairspray… and I absolutely LOVED it. Loved everything. The music, the costumes, the joy. I love love LOVE Nikki Blonsky, and when she got to kiss dreamy Zac Efron at the end I squealed to the Snook (forgetting momentarily that he was not, in fact, an enthusiastic girlfriend): “And she was working at an ice cream parlor when she got the part! Isn’t that the cutest thing EVER?!” I had been expecting to merely tolerate John Travolta’s stunt-casting, but he was fantastic. I can honestly say this is the only Travolta performance I have ever enjoyed. He just disappeared completely into the role, and I can only imagine how difficult it was to dance in that (amazingly realistic) fat suit. I even loved perky little Amanda Bynes, though she did seem to get progressively more orange throughout the movie. (The Snook speculated that it was to lessen the contrast between her and Seaweed.) I bought the album off iTunes as soon as I got home and I imagine I’ll be boppin’ along to that for a while now. If you like musicals, this one is highly recommended.
(And if you don’t, go anyway. You’ll survive. The Snook didn’t love it, but he didn’t fall asleep either.)
Jenny
September 16, 2007 — 4:47 am
Linda & I totally felt the same way. I loved that Nikki Blonsky was so completely bursting with happiness through the whole movie. Absolutely infectious. I’ve never been a real Zac Efron fan, but he was great in this. I couldn’t pay that much attention to Travolta because I was busy loving Christopher Walken. Very, very, very fun. And Queen Latifa was fabulous. And Michelle Pfeiffer? Excellent. I bobbed all the way home from the theater.
Linda couldn’t get over James Marsden and his voice. She liked that he was embracing his hot-ness. (Unlike, say, Jared Leto for one example) Pretty actors should just go with it.
Anonymous
September 16, 2007 — 1:40 pm
My hubby loved this movie and he is not a musical lover. I had a look at the original after seeing this and liked it as well.
Kris
September 16, 2007 — 1:49 pm
It’s a lot easier for me to concentrate on the great singing when listening to the album than it was watching the movie. (Mostly because I was too busy bopping in my seat.) You are so right; James Marsden has an AWESOME singing voice. He goes into an unexpected but very sexy falsie at the end of one song… which I enjoyed very much.
Brittanie
September 17, 2007 — 8:32 pm
Uhg, please no. Both the musical and the movie musical are awful shadows of the original movie. They took so much out and cutesey-fied so much more.
It’s like when your favorite book gets made into Disney movie and they remove all the subtle humor, character and innuendo.
I know you love musicals, Kris, but I seriously can’t believe John Waters allowed this to happen.
Kris
September 17, 2007 — 8:42 pm
Well… I haven’t seen the original, actually. But as someone coming to this version completely new, I think it stands on its own. I can definitely see your point though.
I’ve actually been thinking about the movie a lot over the past two days (mostly while listening to the soundtrack). The thing I can’t get over is how Tracy’s weight issue is handled. SHE’S NOT ASHAMED. As a formerly-fat-and-still-chubby person, this just blows my mind. I spent the whole movie waiting for her to act guilty or embarrassed or somehow apologize for how she is. But she doesn’t. That’s just how she is, take it or leave it! It’s just mindblowing to me. Her friends don’t look down on her. No one pities her. Other than the villainous Von Tussles, nobody looks down on her. I just can’t get over it.
I wish I lived in a cutesey-fied musical!
Brittanie
September 18, 2007 — 12:55 am
Well, if that’s the case, you should definitely rent the DVD of the original movie and listen to Ricki Lake’s commentary.
She was only 18 or 19 when John Waters hired her for the film, it was her first acting gig ever, and she seemed so innocent and completely oblivious to the fact that some people felt she should be ashamed about the way she looked.
I mean, John Waters is the man who made Divine famous, right, and Divine was always FAAAABULOUS, even at “her” biggest.
Kris
September 18, 2007 — 9:23 am
Did you see this shit over at MetaTalk? See, this is why I liked the movie. 🙁