Grasso è bello

Ricki Lake plays Tracy Turnblad, a short, chubby teen with big hair who loves to dance in "Hairspray," a 1988 John Waters film starring Divine, Deborah Harry, Sonny Bono, Ruth Brown, Jerry Stiller, and Mink Stole.

"Hairspray" has now been immortalized on Broadway as an enormous, energetic, fabulously entertaining musical which kept the conceit of a man playing Tracy's mother, again with great success.

"Hairspray" is highly exaggerated in parts, which makes it extra funny, and Waters captures '60s Baltimore beautifully. Corny Collins, who is the Baltimore Dick Clark, would like nothing better than to integrate his television show, but blacks are only permitted to dance one night a week.

The van Tussles are for segregation - that would be Sonny Bono, running for office, his wife Harry (on stage the former Miss Baltimore Crabs, in the film Miss Soft Crab). Harry's hairstyles are fantastic - HUGE - her last hairdo is in the form of an enormous loving cup.

When Tracy's friend Penny takes up with the son of an outspoken black woman, Motormouth Mabel (Ruth Brown), her hysterical mother has her kidnapped and put in the hands of a psychiatrist (Divine as a man) who tries to torture her to stop liking black men. It's so outrageous it's funny, and that's where Waters shows his talent.

When Tracy gets a contract modeling for a plus-sized woman's shop, the owner's live ad on Corny's show begins, "Tubby, tubby, 2 x 4, can't get through the kitchen door." It's this madcap treatment that keeps any of this from being remotely offensive.

All the performances are delightful, and there's a nice turn by Pia Zadora as a black-haired beatnik chick.

"Hairspray" has a lot of warmth that emanates from Tracy and the Turnblad family, and the mood stays upbeat throughout the entire film as the characters dance through life, Tracy with an overlay of blonde hair over her dark flip. Great music, great fun. "Hairspray" in any version is wonderful.

What a joyful and heartfelt movie this is, and totally different from many other US productions, thanks to John Waters ability to dare to stand out. First of all, this is the final movie from the late (great) Divine, who sadly passed away a short while after the film was released. He is really good in this film, and plays one of the lead characters with humour, passion and with a heart. The film has, as John Waters other films too, many funny, and strange cameo appearances, who are amusing and entertaining. Debbie Harry shows her acting talent in this film too. The story is light and cheerful, but underneath it has a message who deals with a more serious matter, racism. John Waters brings back a world of 50-music and Dance in this film, and it's very well done. This is so much better than the remake and no one can play Edna better better than Divine although John Travolta did his best. Ricky Lake does a good job here, but is not the films biggest asset. A must see.

I saw it when it first came out, I've seen it several times since, and my last viewing was just a few weeks ago. It never seems flat or old.

It takes a look at an issue that doesn't necessarily seem to be a goldmine of laughs (racial difficulties in the early '60s) and turns it into just that without robbing it of any dignity or sense of importance. John Waters seems to have pulled out all the stops to insure this outcome, and it really paid off.

The "pleasingly plump" pre-talk show Ricki Lake turns in a great performance in a role that's an inspiration to "chunky" girls everywhere.

As always, Waters picks cameo and supporting actors that are dead-on perfect. His own turn as a psychologist is an absolute scream! Brimming with hysterical lines and set-ups, this is a comedy you need to see, if you haven't already.

1st watched 11/12/2008- (Dir-John Waters): Fun and surprisingly watchable John Waters film about an overweight teen trying to make it on a 50's dance show. Rikki Lake is great in the lead and Divine does a good job as her understanding mother. Despite the filmmakers reputation there are very few gross-out scenes and a good anti-racial theme protecting both overweight people and blacks. The movie has a silly premise and approach but actually does a good job of showing how stupid some of the laws against African-Americans were in the fifties and the sixties. The movie also just flat out entertains and doesn't try to take itself too seriously. I'm actually now looking forward to watching other John Water's films because of this one although I'm sure most of them are not as tame as this one.

And by that I don't mean the colour of someone's skin, but in the manner of The League of Gentlemen etc but rather than using gross or weird out comedy it parodies one of the most disgusting periods of humanity's history, when someone could be looked down on, legally, with the full backing of the law and the public unwillingness to integrate when it was finally legislated against.

This really was a more than decent watch if you let yourself suspend your incredulity a little. The dancing show was a hilarious parody of a 60s show, the performance by the parents and the 3 presenters outside of the show environment especially stand out as works of comedy genius with the children just there as a plot device to move the story on.

7.5/10.