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| Hairspray (Widescreen Edition) | 
 enlarge | Director: Adam Shankman
Actors: John Travolta, Michelle Pffeifer, Queen Latifah, Zac Efron, Christopher Walken
Studio: New Line Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.98
Buy Used: $2.85
You Save: $17.13 (86%)
New (65) Used (81) Collectible (2) from $2.85
Avg. Customer Rating:  273 reviews
Sales Rank: 708
Format: Ac-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 117
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: TRNDN11212D
UPC: 794043112126
EAN: 0794043112126
ASIN: B000W4KT6E
Theatrical Release Date: July 20, 2007
Release Date: November 20, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: dvd is a ex-library copy in a library case guaranteed to play great or your money back no shipping to APO FPO AK HI
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| Customer Reviews:
 Hairspray: Nothing Like The Preview--Much Better! July 22, 2007
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
This is another movie that I was not very exited to see. I had probably seen the preview millions of times and thought that the movie was just about a fat girl getting the chance of her life by dancing on a very popular show back in Baltimore, but as I sat through the movie, fell in love wit the characters and laughed my ass off, I realized that the preview was probably 25% accurate to the theme of the whole movie.
Hairspray follows the story of Tracy Turnblad (excellent performance by the newcomer Nikki Blonsky) a High School student who has a dream of dancing on the Corny Collins (James Marsden, the X-Men hunk) show next to Link Larkin (The High School Musical star Zac Efron). Tracy has been obsessed with the show since it started and her chance to actually try for a spot on the show opens up after one of the stars has a 9-month leave. After she is rejected for being to overweight by the mean Velma Von Tussle (the fierce Michelle Pfeiffer), and being sent to the detention for "hair-height", she meets Seaweed (Elijah Kelley), a student at her High School that not only has the same passion for dancing but that belongs to the "Negro Day" at the Corny Collins show. With Seaweed's help she learns new dance moves that blow out Link and he decides to take her to audition a second time and she actually makes it. After Tracy is accepted into the show this angers Amber Von Tussle (Brittany Snow), who is, at the time, dating Link. Throughout the movie we learn that Tracy is a super lover fan of "Negro Day" and that "if she was elected president she would make everyday, Negro day". Negro day is a day dedicated to black kids on the show that is hosted by Motormouth Maybelle (Queen Latifah). Tracy is very upset that the black kids can only dance once a month on the show, and decides to go on a march to "integrate" white and black kids on the show. Off course Velma and Amber won't let this happen, but as their plan seems to flourish it all falls flat when surprisingly Tracy comes with a plan and brings the black kids to join the show and the integration begins. With the help of Tracy's parents, Edna (John Travolta)-- who surprised me a lot with a great performance-- and Wilbur (Christopher Walken), and her best friend Penny Pingleton (Amanda Bynes) --who was not as funny as I expected--, who falls in love with Seaweed, Tracy makes sure that her wishes for the black kids, and mostly herself, come true.
I have to say that I enjoyed the movie a lot. The jokes were really funny and the music was non-stop fun. There were some jokes that I did think were not as funny or didn't come across as funny, but the movie as a whole worked fantastically. Actors all did a great job and the crew behind it was really amazing, directing (Adam Shankman), custom design (Rita Ryack) and music composition (Marc Shaiman) were not left behind.
I think musicals are very hard to do, and even though not all of them are good, lately we have been hit with high quality musicals (Chicago, Dreamgirls, and Moulin Rogue!), and this is not the exception. I am sure you will go into this movie looking for what I looked for, but hopefully it becomes more than that once a review is read. I'm telling you see it. It is the guilty pleasure of the year. Hairspray needs a spray.
Edna and Tracy July 21, 2007
2 out of 5 found this review helpful
Any film that features a touching love scene shot in a Baltimore backyard with laundry hanging on the line (as Moms used to say) between Christopher Walken ( Wilbur Turnblad) and John Travolta (as an almost scary Edna Turnblad) is OK with me. That that scene may also be one of the most romantic scenes of this or any year is crazy on the one hand and perplexing on the other. With that being said, director Adam Shankman has magically turned the stage musical into something that is more full of life, more effervescent than either the play or the John Waters slight, though terrific film of 1988.
Tracy Turnblad (Nikki Blonsky who almost makes us forget Rikki Lake from the film) is a Baltimore teenager: chubby of body, colossal of hair and bubbling over with good cheer and ironclad self esteem. The year is 1962 and the signs of change are everywhere Tracy goes foremost of which is the "Corny Collins Show," an American Bandstand-type show which features a "Negro Day" once a week: a situation that Tracy and her friends Penny (Amanda Bynes) and Link (Zac Efron) are desperate to change into an everyday occurrence. Edna, who hasn't left the house since 1951 and therefore very much aware and embarrassed of her size discourages Tracy from auditioning as a dancer for the show but Tracy, to her credit, feels confident enough about her dancing does so anyway and is finally accepted into the Corny Collins fold much to the chagrin of both Velma Von Tussle ( a gorgeous Michelle Pfeiffer) and her daughter Amber (Brittany Snow).
"Hairspray is also very much a capsule of its time and place: pregnant women smoking and drinking martinis, children in cars without seat belts buckled, boys and girls hair greased and sprayed to within an inch of its life (Tracy is accused of having a "hair-don't" at one point) and bigots spouting the kind of gunk that bigots do.
"Hairspray" is ultimately a big, calorie laden birthday cake of a film: you know you shouldn't imbibe but you can't help yourself. But along with the sugar rush of this spectacle there lays some lumps based on reality which point out, not only how much has changed since 1962 but more importantly how much has stayed the same.
 All that was funny was sprayed away! Travolta becomes a cosmetic debacle! July 21, 2007
9 out of 19 found this review helpful
This is going to be the second tough review for me this season.HAIRSPRAY fell flat! All that was teased was let down.
As a Baltimore boy myself who grew up and remember the significant events that shaped John Waters' original 1988 spoof on our town,I also saw HAIRSPRAY:THE MUSICAL twice on Broadway in 2002-3.Though altered somewhat from the source material, there was still a magical and infectious feeling that one got watching the big basso-profundo Harvey Fierstein ,in his Tony Award winning performance, lumber across the New York Stage as the Amazonian laundress Edna Turnblad.Fierstein,probably New York's most beloved actor, as a huge gay man, was the first musical incarnation since the irreplaceable late Divine(Baltimore's native "son")originated the role in Waters' break-out flick.The 300 pound Divine,as well as the scratchy-voiced Fierstein,WERE "hefty-hideaway-chicks". These naturally behemoth men WERE the ever-dieting ironing (arning) maven desperately trying to cope with the ever-changing "rock'n'rollers" that were changing the course of social history in this town!.In fact,Glenn Milstead (Divine) was ALWAYS John Waters' leading lady!He, like Fierstein, knew how to BE a woman!( See Harvey Fierstein in TORCH SONG TRILOGY.See Divine in FEMALE TROUBLES,PINK FLAMINGOS,POLYESTER and LUST IN THE DUST.)
Here then is my biggest rub,Hon!: John Travolta was not Edna! Clad in mountains of rubbery flesh and tons of cakey make-up, Travolta's facial features were as stiff as a newly over-Botoxed victim that turned his dialogue into complete and incomprehensible mush. The "fat suit" drew way too much attention to itself in a badly performed cosmetic stunt.Travolta's Edna Turnblad is never a "real" woman.She instead is turned into a prosthetic caricature that in no way captures the original movie or stage "Edna" who was a real-feeling and breathing "woman".Divine's and Fierstein's natural "largess" flowed effortlessly, fat rolls and all! John Travolta, on the flipside, is always a man encased in mounds of artificial flesh...and not at all funny.His rubber suit floats and bounces with the wind and Christopher Walken , who was thoroughly convincing as husband Wilbur in a much-expanded part, needed to steer clear as Travolta may have floated into the air at a seconds notice! Travolta would have never been my choice.The hugs and the unashamed kisses that Fierstein and Dick Latessa freely shared on stage as the loving and hotly attracted Edna and Wilbur wowed 'em in New York as those two men sexily and playfully romped through the softshoe "You're Timeless to Me".Here two men lightly Fred Astairishly tip-toe mostly holding hands beneath Edna's airing laundry, free of all overt sexiness (remember Wilbur was HOT for chubby chicks!) that made audiences applaud wildly as the couple kissed and embraced, free from all hang-ups.Broadway breathlessly waited for that magical moment! Here, Travolta reclines in a chaise,fat suit practically eating him up, and Wilbur dampens the candle.Would it have been too much to see Walken and Travolta kiss? At least THAT would have been true to the characters!In fact, even the "French kissing" of Tracy and Link is totally removed.Anything that was sexy and crass....GONE WITH THE FAT SUIT!!!
Hollywood needed a big named star to attract all audiences to a musical that many folks never would have seen otherwise on a live stage.If you have seen the original movie and the stage musical,the 2007 version strays unfortunately even further(ESPECIALLY the ending that betrays both previous versions thus severely altering the whole intent!!!) If this HAIRSPRAY is your first intro to Baltimore, than chances are you will be far more entertained than I was.The dancing is contagious...the humor,sexiness and infectious obsurdity that was John Waters and even Broadway is faded like a bad dye job. What once made HAIRSPRAY outrageously funny and edgey is as tamed and relaxed as Pia Zadora's ironed hair in Waters' cult classic about his home town.
The expanding of Velma Van Tassle's screen time to the point of adding a totally unnecessary seduction scene because Michelle Pfeiffer's contract may have called for it was ludicrous. The scene was long and drawn out, and again, not funny.Her enunciation in "Miss Baltimore Crabs" was deplorable! Again...big star...not funny!There is a MAJOR difference the way "stage" actors inhabit these characters verses the manner in which "film stars" do the same.A tremendously slimmed-down Pfeiffer looked good, but that was it: not a singer...not a dancer!
Queen Latifah?...spot-on casting! Her deeply soulful singing of "I know where I've Been" as the kids marched on WYZT still is the number that brings the house down every time on Broadway! On the other hand,"Big Blonde and Beautiful" was severly edited, losing all that is so positive and right about this song of affirmation for the "plus-sized" woman...black or white! There are two new numbers written for the film version.
That said...where this film hits all of the right notes is in the outstanding choreography of Adam Shankman who really did his homework in recreating the dances that prevailed in the black and white youth of the time. Every step was a piece of "the mashed potato", "the watusi","the pony","the hully-gully" "the bird" and "the funky chicken"! Any youth who danced on Baltimore's Saturday- must-see The Buddy Deane Show, the "real" Corny Collins Show, will be overwhelmed and overjoyed at how energetic and totally accurate Shankman's dances are.They are slick, full of exaggeration and high energy. The white dances are more naturally subdued and contained for "the nicest kids in town"-"nice WHITE kids". The black numbers are sexy, sensual and so full of unrestricted body movement that THIS is the reason we white kids longed to be with our black friends as much as they wanted to be with us.We loved their "MOTOWN" music and they wanted equal dance time with us. Music and dance WAS our common bond in a city dominated by segregation. This is WHY we picketed WJZ-TV Channel 13 in Baltimore. For Shankman's masterful dance routines, this HAIRSPRAY stands-out even over the Broadway musical.It is the newcomers, Nikki Blonsky, Zac Efron, Elijah Kelly and James Marsden that bring pizazz to this film.They perform as the fresh,young,naive and totally optimistic "hair-hoppers" that we were.Amanda Bynes as Penny Pingleton?...eh!!!Allison Janney as her mother fared better.Why was Mrs. Pingleton reading with "cross" bookmarks and performs an exorcism? Baltimore was then a predominantly Roman Catholic town.Things were strict.Lines were not crossed.
What continues to be diluted,though, as HAIRSPRAY dances to success, is the original ridiculous,crass humor and justified stereotype of our "hick town" that made (and still makes) "Bawlmer" so completely bizarre so much so that John Waters' penned his HAIRSPRAY in the first place. When Baltimore saw the original movie premiere at our historic Senator Theatre in 1988, the WHOLE town laughed at itself and it was THE single highlight that black and white locals shared together.We are a hung-up,carss and very diverse lot,here! Yesterday,we all sat in the theatre at the premiere ....and not a single laugh, except for John Waters' cameo as "the flasher" in the opening number "Good Morning Baltimore,was heard for the 107 minutes of pulse-pounding entertainment. We silently got up from our cushy seats,people did not stay for the credits ( a hallmark of moviegoers in Baltimore),more than a little deflated puzzling in ourselves, "Where was our Baltimore?" ....It had disappeared in a nostalgic time warp that was somehow lost in translation even further as our "Ultra-Clutch-High-Haired-Wannabe-Po'Dunk" city slipped beneath rubber suits, Hollywood A-List actors and razzle-dazzle choreography and editing.What had made HAIRSPRAY so original was gone along with the 1960's.None of us spoke. We all filed out too afraid to speak what was really on our minds: all that was funny was sprayed away!
See the Broadway Musical if you can! July 21, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
As critics have stated this is the best adaptation of a musical to film in 10 years and maybe since Grease. I second their opinions, but like Chicago something was lost when it went to the big screen.
First the two best ensemble numbers were removed. Mamma, I'm a Big Girl Now, which clearly shows the conflict between the Mothers and Daughters is shared; and second "The Big Dollhouse" with some of the funniest humour in the entire musical.
Second, the seduction of Wilbur Turnblad was very funny, but could easily have been cut and the movie would have lost nothing also, the relationship between Tracy and Little Inez which was removed in this film but in the musical and in the original film sets up Tracy's concern for the predjudice she seeks to thwart.
Summary, very well done and I hope Hollywood does not get their hands on Wicked or Spamalot.
"Hairspray" is the Word July 21, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
"Hairspray" is full-blown entertainment, a fun-filled musical comedy that pulls no punches when it comes to spectacle. I haven't enjoyed a movie this much in a long time, and I have no doubt that anyone who sees it will feel the same way. Here's a film that truly knows how to make the audience feel good, thanks to some notable talents: Marc Shaiman's soulful music is upbeat and infectious; leads like John Travolta, Nikki Blonsky, Zac Efron, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Queen Latifah give performances perfectly suited for this kind of story; David Gropman's production design, Rita Ryack's costume designs, and Judi Cooper-Sealy's hair designs make for an absolutely dead on look. This film--and you'll pardon the pun--hits all the right notes. I expected nothing less from a film adaptation of a Tony winning musical play, which itself is based on the 1988 film written and directed by John Waters.
Taking place in Baltimore in the year 1962, "Hairspray" tells a story that's equal parts humor, heart, and social commentary, all of which are strung together through song. The main character is Tracy Turnblad (Nikki Blonsky), a big-haired teenager who dreams of making a name for herself, despite being overweight. She also dreams of a Baltimore that doesn't segregate because of skin color. Overcoming adversity is not a new to storytelling, but it certainly is relatable, which is probably why we root for this character so passionately. As she sings "Good Morning, Baltimore"--the opening song--her strong resolve practically flies off of the screen, filling us with the kind of admiration usually reserved for older, more experienced people. Nonetheless, she is a teenager at heart, as seen with her devotion to "The Corny Collins Show," an energetic (and segregated) music variety program hosted by the aptly named Corny Collins (James Marsden).
Tracy auditions for the show, only to face the wrath of Velma von Tussle (Michelle Pfeiffer), the deliciously wicked station manager. She would rather die than see this fat, pro-integration young girl dance on "Corny Collins"; not only would it spoil the station's reputation, it would also mean new competition for her bratty daughter, Amber (Brittany Snow), who's aiming to win the upcoming Miss Teenage Hairspray pageant. In realizing the situation, Tracy decides to organize a protest march. Offering their full support are Seaweed Stubbs (Elijah Kelley) and his mother, Motormouth Maybelle (Queen Latifah), who also hosts the once monthly Negro Day on "Corny Collins." This aspect of the story was interesting, mostly because the seriousness of the Civil Rights Movement was successfully given a light-hearted spin. It was in no way offensive--if anything, its message was made even clearer.
A number of subplots weave their way through the film. One of the most important involves Tracy's mother, Edna, perfectly played by John Travolta. There's a refreshing complexity to this character that I wasn't expecting; she's a housebound laundress who uses her weight as an excuse to hold herself back. But with the love of her husband, Wilbur (Christopher Walken), and with a little help from Tracy, a newfound self-esteem begins to emerge. One of the film's most enjoyable scenes is of Edna's fashion makeover, a highly choreographed number that shows her in her best light. This character could have easily been a joke; the reality is that a male actor had to sing and dance in drag while wearing a fat suit. Fortunately, Travolta so thoroughly disappears into his role that any degree of phoniness is overshadowed. Edna Turnblad is a silly character that I wholeheartedly believed in.
Another subplot involves Link Larkin (Zac Efron), a regular on "Corny Collins" and a teen heartthrob in every sense. Initially an item with Amber, the young singer/dancer finds himself drawn to Tracy after she joins the show. Of course, Tracy is absolutely wild about Link, with his slick black hair, his Elvis-inspired dance moves, and his romantic singing voice. Why else would she have a picture of him inside her school locker? Her puppy love comes across during "I Can Hear the Bells," a delightfully naive song which documents her future with Link. Listening to her sing is her best friend, Penny Pingleton (Amanda Bynes), a peppy young girl who constantly sucks on a lollipop. She eventually takes part in her own subplot; she and Seaweed begin an interracial romance, much to the dismay of her ridiculously traditional mother, Prudy (Allison Janney).
All this and more make for a film that's begging to be experienced. "Hairspray" is a nonstop good time, filled to the brim with energy and soul. Every character, every song, and every dance step work together flawlessly, and I just couldn't keep myself from smiling. I loved everything about it, from the performances to the music to the story. I have the feeling this will someday become a classic among American musicals, a beloved treasure of the same caliber as "Grease."
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