REVIEW (movie)

Hairspray

Synopsis excerpted from IMDB.com: Teenage newcomer, Nikki Blonsky, won the celebrity lottery and landed the lead role of Tracy Turnblad, a Baltimore high school student who is obsessed with becoming one of the dancers on the local Corny Collins Show and stealing the heart of the lead dancer, Link Larkin (Zac Efron). Tracys mother, Edna Turnblad, played frighteningly well in drag by John Travolta, is worried that Tracy will get hurt. This role has traditionally been played in drag going back to the 1988 feature with the famous transvestite, Divine. Christopher Walken is great as Tracy's dad, who supports her dream. Look for a funny cameo by original writer, John Waters as a neighborhood flasher and also a cameo of Ricki Lake (Originial Tracy) as a Talent Agent. Michelle Pfeifer and Brittany Snow star as the nasty mother daughter team of Velma and Amber Von Tussle who are determined to prevent any changes to lily white, homogenous look of the show. Queen Latifah and Elijah Kelley's characters of Motormouth Maybelle and Seaweed join up with Tracy to fight for the rights of all.

What I thought: Honestly, I didn't expect much and anticipated a rather boring Moms' Night Out at the movies with friends from my moms' group. But lo and behold! I absolutely loved it! Such a fun, light-hearted movie. There were funny moments (esp. some hilarious one-liners in the songs) and a few almost-tearjerkers. Overall, it was a feel-good movie that definitely made me feel good. I enjoyed it so much that I was able to forget about worrying about leaving Ella with RJ for more than 3 hours. I wouldn't mind seeing it again, but since time and money (can you believe it now costs $10.25 to see a movie?) are luxuries, I will just have to settle for renting it when it comes out in DVD.