Hairspray

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Paul S This movie was so much fun to watch. The songs were amazing and catchy, and the story was really compelling, not to mention the absolute stellar performances we got from the cast. I definitely recommend it! Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 05/21/25 Full Review Andrea S I thought Hairspray was super vibrant and made me feel so good! I do not really like musicals, but I saw this one and it was filled with infectious energy. This was set in the 1960s in Baltimore, so the film basically follows Tracy Turnblad, who is a spirited teen who dreams of dancing on the Corny Collins Show. But beyond the catchy tunes and dazzling choreography, Hairspray shows the audience a powerful message about racial integration and self-acceptance. The cast is stacked with talent! Nikki Blonsky was such an amazing Tracy while John Travolta portrayed her mother Edna was both so funny and extremely heartwarming. Queen Latifa, Zac Effron, and Michelle Pfieffer added some more layers to the charm and conflict in the story. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 05/17/25 Full Review Audience Member Starring Nikki Blonsky from “Hairspray”. The film adaptation of the Broadway musical, which was itself was based on the 1988 film, remains one of the best modern movie adaptations in recent history. It feels like a spiritual successor to “Grease”, being set in the proceeding decade, with similar themes relating to societies status quo at the top, although “Hairspray” has higher stakes issues and delivers the theme of acceptance more effectively. Despite its heavy subject matter, a majority of the musical numbers are upbeat bops that remain stuck in the viewer’s head like a great pop singer. Phenomenal casting leads to outstanding performances by the entire cast in this bright, beautiful musical. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 05/15/25 Full Review Alex N Hairspray is one of the most entertaining films I have watched. The film is full of energy and charismatic characters making it enjoyable to watch with friends and family. The acting is amazing, the cast gave an outstanding performance and everything about the plot followed smoothly and fit together well. The music is catchy, the singing is amazing, and the dances matches the music's vibe, very upbeat. The movie overall is a top tier musical to watch, especially if you're starting out. It is one of the films that I recommend to countless people who are breaking into the musical scene. I give this film a 4.5 stars out of 5 because it is nostalgic, and very fun to watch. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 05/15/25 Full Review Elizabeth M I find this movie to be very enjoyable and entertaining to watch either by yourself or with friends. I personally love to watch musicals so that's mainly the reason why I enjoy Hairspray so much. I think the songs and performances are greatly executed by the talented actors that are in the film. I especially enjoyed watching John Travolta and Zac Efron impersonate their roles, I think they contributed heavily to plot of the film. What I also like about this film is that there's so much depth and meaning that is conveyed through the plot lines and themes that brings awareness to the division that society used to live in and thought was "normal." I would definitely recommend this movie to others to be able to enjoy entertaining musical performances as well as get a good laugh in. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 04/09/25 Full Review Rae B Aggressively mid. I enjoyed Link (Zac Efron), Motormouth Maybelle (Queen Latifah), Little Inez (Tayla Parx), and Corny Collins (James Marsdon)- they actually had incredible talent and showed it through the whole movie. And that's saying something because three of those characters have little to no screentime. Other actors fell short- either through terrible acting or simply getting hardly enough screentime to make me care about them. I did tear up when they marched, but Tracy (Nikki Blonsky) ruined it almost immediately by being... I don't want to say naive, that feels too polite. But if you've seen the movie, you know that she does something incredibly stupid with no consideration for common sense or consequences. I understand the idea is to communicate a serious message through comedy, but the entire movie falls short due to slap-stick humor being either overdone or misplaced. Or simply undermining the message entirely. Also, Tracy is almost entirely unlikeable- her interactions with her mother were the best scenes for her, and gave a hint at an actual personality, but past that she felt terribly one-dimensional. "Oh, here's this fat girl. She's never going to actually face any hardship, and all of her supportive actions are going to be appear shallow at one point and a whim the next. Also, she's fat. And we're going to reduce her to being fat and nothing else for at least 4/5ths of the runtime." There was no chemistry between anyone in the cast- I got the most vibes from Maybelle and Corny during the last musical number (and Link, but it was like watching a truck hit a wall because Tracy, again, felt one dimensional and about as emotionally deep as a teaspoon). The entire thing, the whole movie, felt like white-knightism at its most egregious. Also, a little fetishizing? Just a few of the comments made by some of the characters (Penny Pingleton- Amanda Bines- in particular) made me wince. I think if I had seen this as a kid, I would have enjoyed it more and might have a better opinion as an adult. But I didn't. As for the music........ there were three songs I liked. Out of the entire two-hour movie. I'd honestly give it a lower score but the characters I mentioned in the beginning really saved it from a 0/5. I know their backs hurt from how hard they had to carry with the few scenes they were in. Rated 1.5/5 Stars •  Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 03/25/25 Full Review Read all reviews

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