0.5/4  Crappier than Poop
John Waters is probably the worst director/writer who ever existed next to Uwe Boll. He is disgusting and why he works with Divine is beyond me. The strangest cast and the most inane sexual innuendos produced make this one of his worst [... (read full)

2.5/4  John Waters makes a PG movie...
The 1988 film by John Waters became a big success. Hairspray is a satire of 60's life for a lower middle class overweight girl in Baltimore, USA. It's supposed to be tacky and pro-America. It does have some deeper moments and some points t... (read full)

5/5 Great Musical
  by David A. Smith (Webberville, Mi, USA)
John Travolt is awesome in this movie. so is everyone else. this movie hip with alot of good music. i love it and so will you. recommend it for everyone

5/5 Just Awesome!
  by N. Coleman (Texas)
I can literally watch this movie over and over again! It was definitely worth the purchase. I loved all the added commentary and videos in the special features.

5/5 Great buy.
  by C.M. (Baltimore, MD USA)
VERY nice price, in like new shape. Works great and shipping very fast. Would buy from again.

5/5 I never thought I would enjoy this movie so much
  by Sloth (Austin, TX)
Having seen the original back in the day, I didn't really expect anything new with the remake. I was so mistaken. This movie has a great set of songs that are all very catchy. The blu-ray is very well put together with great picture and sound, and lots of extras. This has become my family's favorite movie. If you like musicals, you will love this.

5/5 Movie of the Year
  by Ana Mardoll (United States)
Hairspray / B000W4KT6E

*Spoilers*

I wasn't sure what to think going into 'Hairspray' - all I knew was that it had been hugely critically acclaimed back when it first came out, but that doesn't always mean a movie will be any good. Let me just say, though, that in this case all those fawning critics were absolutely correct.

Where do you start when recommending 'Hairspray'? The singing, to start with, is absolutely divine, and the lyrics of the songs are so fun and wild it's impossible not to laugh. The acting, too, is wonderful - Pffeifer is delightful in her role as the petty, aging prom queen; Latifa is spectacular, as always; Walken plays the same persona that he always plays so well; and while I was initially put off by Travolta's performance, he finally won me over and I had to admit that at the end of the movie, his character is probably one of my favorites - it's one thing to portray a character who is coming into her own as a young woman, but it's another thing entirely to pull off a character who is trying to recapture the spirit and joi de vivre of youth, and he does it well.

I was surprised to see that so much of the plot of 'Hairspray' revolved not around accepting a young woman despite her heavy size (what I had assumed the movie would be about) and instead focusing on race relations and acceptance in society in general. Indeed, at the end of the movie, we have two of the most-rare-couples-in-movies: an interracial couple (where the girl is taller than the boy, no less!) and a heavy-girl/heartthrob-boy couple. This universal message prevents the movie from being just another teen movie about loving yourself and not listening to society's demands for perfection, and instead turns it into something timeless and classic. Even better, I was pleased to see that the main character never really judges her body image negatively - she is what she is, and it doesn't really bother her. That's incredibly unusual for a movie - the usual subtext underneath all the 'acceptance' platitudes is that, ideally, you would work to get that perfect body anyway, and just 'accept' yourself in the meantime. Tracy, however, doesn't 'accept' her flaws - she actively loves herself and acknowledges that she is lovely and talented.

Although I'm sure that the musical from which this movie was adapted was probably even better (live performances very often are), I definitely recommend 'Hairspary' as one of the best movies I've seen. I went into it dreading a sludgy "love yourself" teen movie and instead found a movie that was incredibly funny, edgy, and unforgettable.