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Hairspray - John Travolta, Queen Latifah, Nicole Blonsky, Adam Shankman

Threat advisory: Elevated - Significant risk of entertaining activities

Movie propaganda

Who's who behind the do?

Tracy Turnblad (Nicole Blonsky), a big girl with big hair and an even bigger heart, has only one passion - dancing. Her dream is to appear on The Corny Collins Show, Baltimore's hippest dance party on TV. Tracy seems a natural fit for the show except for one not-so-little problem - she doesn't fit in. Her plus-sized figure has always set her apart from the cool crowd, which she is reminded of by her loving but overly protective plus-sized mother, Edna (John Travolta). That doesn't stop Tracy because if there is one thing that this girl knows, it's that she was born to dance

After wowing Corny Collins (James Marsden) at her high school dance, Tracy wins a spot on his show and becomes an instant on-air sensation, much to the chagrin of the show's reigning princess, Amber Von Tussle (Brittany Snow), and her scheming mother, Velma (Michelle Pfeiffer), who runs television station WYZT. Even worse for Amber is the fact that it's not just the audience who loves the new girl in town; Amber's sweetheart, Link Larkin (Zac Efron), seems to be smitten with Tracy's charms as well. This dance party gets personal as a bitter feud erupts between the girls as they compete for the coveted Miss Teenage Hairspray crown.

When big hair meets big dreams anything can happen - and does - in this high-energy comedy that proves you don't have to fit in to win.

Theatrical propaganda posters

Target demographic movie keyword propaganda

Film black comedy dance teen 1960s bouffant hair-do television remake music high school Negro racism TV

Persons of interest

John Travolta .... Edna Turnblad
Michelle Pfeiffer .... Velma Von Tussle
Christopher Walken .... Wilbur Turnblad
Amanda Bynes .... Penny Pingleton
James Marsden .... Corny Collins
Queen Latifah .... Motormouth Maybelle
Brittany Snow .... Amber Von Tussle
Zac Efron .... Link Larkin
Elijah Kelley .... Seaweed
Allison Janney .... Prudy Pingleton
Nikki Blonsky .... Tracy Turnblad
Taylor Parks .... Little Inez
Paul Dooley .... Mr Spritzer
Jerry Stiller .... Mr Pinky
John Waters .... Screenwriter (1988)
Thomas Meehan .... Playwright
Mark O'Donnell .... Playwright
Leslie Dixon .... Screenwriter
Thomas Meehan .... Screenwriter
Mark O'Donnell .... Screenwriter
Adam Shankman .... Director

Cinematic intelligence sources

Hairspray official movie site
Hairspray film production notes
Hairspray QuickTime movie trailers
Awards and film festivals:

Hollywood Foreign Press Association (Golden Globes) 2008: Nominated: Picture - Musical Or Comedy, Actress In A Leading Role - Musical Or Comedy (Nikki Blonsky), Actor In A Supporting Role (John Travolta)
MTV Movie Awards 2007: Nominated: Best Summer Movie You Haven't Seen Yet
MTV Movie Awards 2008: Won: Breakthrough Performance (Zac Efron)

Studios and distributors:

New Line Cinema * Roadshow Films

Intelligence analyst

Special Agent Matti

Theatrical report

Hairspray is a lot more fun than I thought it would be. I am always somewhat dubious about a film that's based on a stage play that's based on a film because any single such translation is fraught with the possibility of ruining everything the original stands for. Fortunately, that isn't the case here. Despite the plethora of writers, Hairspray comes across as polished rather than overdone. The core theme - difference is something to celebrate, not segregate - is solid and true, overlaid with the delightful perkiness of the early Sixties (they're like the Fifties but with bigger hair).

The music, the singing, the dancing, the clothes and the attitudes are all spot on. We often think of white Americans as being inherently racist but a lot of them were on the side of Good (it takes two to make a Civil War, after all, even if one did kill the President responsible for the whole thing). [There's nothing like the full and frank exchange of views during a robust democratic debate. - Director of Intelligence.]

Mind you, I'm not in favour of extending civil rights to fatties; a chubby chaser I am not. Obesity has been in and out of fashion in Western culture but in the New Millennium it's mostly a matter of laziness, gluttony, capitalism and poor education. Because of the related health dangers it is now a bad thing. I guess the anti-fat slogan should be, "Don't do doughnuts".

It's still ok to be a Negro, but.

(That's black humour, folks.)

Nicole Blonsky and Zac Efron are great as the mismatched teen heroes. They sing, dance and act exactly the way they should. I wasn't impressed by John Travolta's drag turn as Edna Turnblad (reprising the role made infamous by the divine Divine) as he was putting on too much character for a character that needs no putting on (like the nurse in Romeo and Juliet, about all you really need to do is turn up).

Oh yes, almost everyone was wearing too much make-up. I don't know if they were trying to be period specific (they wore more in those days) or just went too far but it didn't work for me.

The black comedy movie Hairspray is directed by Adam Shankman and stars John Travolta, Queen Latifah, Nicole Blonsky.