Hairspray (2007)

I was first introduced to Adam Shankman when he guest-judged on So You Think You Can Dance, which I thoroughly enjoyed watching for the first time this season (it is the best show on television, in my humble opinion). The contestants were treated to a special screening of Hairspray, and the footage of their outing matched the joy Adam Shankman has exuded in every appearance I've seen. The man is a sparkler of exuberant talent. Hairspray is a festival, exquisitely produced and as colorful as a box of Crayolas. Adam Shankman directed and choreographed this film adaptation of the musical stage play that was based on the original 1988 John Waters movie. I haven't seen the original, but I suspect Shankman has preserved its ingenious conceit, which wrapped a serious moral and social film (about racial and class injustice) in so much fun and laughter that it was an easy pill to swallow. Veterans John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Chrisopher Walken, and Queen Latifah lend easy expertise to the movie, which features two young newcomers with wonderful potential, Nikki Blonsky (as Tracy Turnblad) and Elijah Kelley (as Seaweed). Travolta plays Tracy's mother, not in drag but as a woman, and is impressively nimble and feminine in the role. Pfeiffer is a delicious villain who gets her comeuppance most satisfactorily. If only the real world could reflect the equilibrium that Hairspray's earnest characters have achieved--through song, dance, and good intentions.