Hairspray
|
List Price: Our Price: $4.55 You Save: $8.42 (65%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $1.97 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Hairspray
Movie Review: Great Great Family comedy!
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie is probabally one of the best films I have ever seen! It is about an overweight girl named Tracey Turnblad (Ricki Lake) who, like every other Baltimore Teenager loves the local tv dance show the corny collins show. When her mother and father (Divine and Jerry Stiller ) find out her mother is angerd by the obsession but her father thinks it is a finee show with really no problem. When Tracey gets excepted as a dancer her mother loves the attention and publicity her daughter is getting. However with tracey becoming famous she kicks bratty Amber Von Tussle out of the spotlight. Amber, madder than ever starts spreading nasty rumors about tracey. However sweet sweet Tracey doesn't let it bother he. The rest is a hilarious fun comedy about dancing, the 60's and the serious part racial issues in Baltimore. Parents who may know John Water's other films are downright weird and nasty but there is nothing weird or nasty. However there is one scene where the kids are hiding from their parents and run into bizzare beatniks who suggest drugs but link sends a good message by getting him and his friends out of their and says to not do drugs or you's get addicted and get hurt. That's really the only reason it got the PG rating. I think that if the scene weren't in there it would be a G rating. Now for special features there is a nice reunion commentary between John Waters and Ricki Lake. Besides that there is the original trailer also I have not checked it out but the dvd case says there are special features only viewible on a computer. I highly reccomend this to all familys or just people who love fun movies. But parents of kids 7 and younger should watch this with them. So whether you rent it or buy it you will not be dissapointed!
Movie Review: Hey-diddly BOP! (Continental, Continental...)
Summary: 5 Stars
John Waters purists may argue that HAIRSPRAY, his great crossover hit, is nowhere near as lowdown dirty and outrageously sidesplitting as his earlier guerilla films, but there's no denying that this is his smoothest piece of work, with by far the best performances. Everyone by this point knows that the film concerns the attempts of Tracy Turnblad, "an upper lower-class" overweight white girl from inner-city 1962 Baltimore, to get onto a popular local television dance show and then to integrate it successfully. The entire cast (even the supporting throwaway parts: catch the facial expressions of Amber's friends when she's dissing Tracy in class) is just about perfect, and is led by three magnificent teenage performances: Ricki Lake as the supremely confident Tracy; Divine, as her charmingly pushing mother; and the scene-stealer Colleen Fitzpatrick as Tracy's rival, the abominable blonde Amber. One thing that really helps the film is the superb soundtrack from the early 60s, which keeps things hopping, and the marvelous dancing (particularly on the part of Lake and Fitzpatrick) to accompany it.The DVD version is really a treat, offering one of the finest and funniest director's commentators ever from John Waters: it's amazing to hear how much background was behind the film, which chronicles his real-life obsession with a similar Baltimore early 60's dance show. There are also some comments from Lake, who unsurprisingly reveals what a diva she really is (she's STILL upset with Waters for making her dye her hair for the film!). But the Waters's comments are laugh-out-loud funny, and there are far more of them than Lake's, which is a blessing.
Movie Review: A really funny comedy bursting with talent. I loved it!
Summary: 5 Stars
I saw this film when it first came out in 1988. I loved it then. I recently saw it on the small screen. I loved it even more. Maybe its because I've followed the career of its star, Ricki Lake, and have seen her transformed from a chubby teenager into a slim talk show host. Maybe its because I can appreciate the comic genius of director John Waters who is willing to push the envelope over the top on every scene. Maybe its because I really enjoyed watching the double role played by the transvestite called Divine. Maybe its because of the outrageous clothes worn by all the characters. Most of all though, I know its because this film made me laugh out loud.Hairspray is set in the early sixties, when teen age dance programs were all the rage. And its about a fat girl who doesn't fit in, but yet is a terrific dancer. She becomes a teenage idol though and the whole city loves her. She's smart and sassy and also wants to force the dance show to racially integrate. And she manages to do this with just the right degree of gumption, comedy and romance. The casting includes Sonny Bono and Deborah Harry as the parents of a teenager who is Ricki's competition, Colleen Fitzpatrick. And the singer Ruth Brown not only has a role of the mother of a teenager who is trying to integrate the show, she sings too. Divine plays the role of Ricki's mother as well as the male owner of the TV show. And Jerry Stiller is cast as Ricki's father.
All in all, the film is bursting with talent. I sat there, relaxed, and laughed my head off. This is truly a funny comedy. Highly recommended.
Movie Review: Fun-filled musical comedy with many important social issues.
Summary: 5 Stars
"Hairspray" captures early '60s life in Baltimore as Tracy (Ricki Lake) a young and chunky fan of a local dance TV show makes her way to become the star of it. Though she is poked fun at, nothing stops her including winning the heart of another dance regular on the show. The action of the story is centered around her as she also tries to have the dancing show entirely integrated. This movie is a very cheeky one that also adresses some very important social issues like civil rights. Tracy and her friends discard the snobbish attitudes towards minorities and strive for integration for everyone. It's a very cool flick filled with great early '60s rock'n'roll and R&B classics. There is a soundtrack, but sadly not all of the 30-some songs heard in this movie are there. It'd be nice to have all the songs though like "American Graffiti." There is an all-star cast including Sonny Bono, who stars as the father of Tracy's rival on the dance floor, rhythm & blues legend Ruth Brown as the town dee-jay, Motormouth Maybelle, and Divine as Tracy's Mother. All you MPT viewers from Baltimore, look for Rhea Feiken in a cameo role as Tracy's geometry teacher. It's also interesting that once the parents each get a good look at what their kids are into, they become hip like them. You've got to see this movie to know what I mean. Not only is it great for the music, the dancing, the nostalgic feel and the familiar faces, but also because of the righteous message that we learn...as well as doing the "Madison Time." Hit it!Movie Review: Dancing On Troubled Waters
Summary: 5 Stars
John Waters is renowned as the king of shlock, bad taste, gender-bending, and outrageousness - pretty much covering the waterfront of any subject society declares off limits. In a business of greed-driven copycats lacking nerve or creativity, Waters is that rarest bird of all, an original. While Hairspray has rude moments, it is his most approachable and appealing film. Waters manages the impossible trick, he is disrespectful without being mean, tasteless without being vulgar, and over-the-top without being pointlessly crazy.
Consider the Hairspray cast. Who else but John Waters could have assembled Ricki Lake, Ruth Brown, Divine, Debbie Harry, Sonny Bono, Pia Zadora, and Ric Ocasek? When you get to hear Pia Zadora reading Alan Ginsburg's "Howl," you know you've hit paydirt. The dance segments are simply fantastic (form a big strong Madison line) but the highlight of this movie is all about wardrobe, specifically the matching outfits worn by Divine and Ricki Lake. This is bad taste carried to the point where it is flirting with high art, you will not believe your eyes. That Waters manages to sneak an interesting racial integration story into Hairspray only proves that the clown, as in Lear, is the one who has the ear of the King. Thoroughly delightful and definitely worth owning.