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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

97
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
83
Alexandra
43
Anamorph
35
Babysitters, The
32
Backseat
80
Band's Visit, The
65
Battle for Haditha
47
Bella
63
Blind Mountain
71
Blindsight
47
Boarding Gate
60
Body of War
58
Bra Boys
70
Caramel
54
Cashback
44
Chaos Theory
32
Chapter 27
69
Chicago 10
xx
Children of Huang Shi, The
83
Chop Shop
46
CJ7
78
Counterfeiters, The
30
Cover
49
Dark Matter
35
Deal
62
Dhamma Brothers, The
92
Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The
73
Duchess of Langeais, The
83
Edge of Heaven, The
20
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
58
Fall, The
43
Favor, The
58
First Saturday in May, The
57
Flawless
87
Flight of the Red Balloon, The
xx
From Within
44
Frontier(s)
57
Fugitive Pieces
41
Funny Games
66
George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead
61
Girls Rock!
55
Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts
57
Grand, The
58
Hats Off
68
Honeydripper
xx
Jack and Jill vs. the World
67
Jellyfish
51
Jihad for Love, A
xx
Kiss the Bride
37
Life Before Her Eyes, The
72
Life of Reilly, The
50
Look
65
Married Life
35
Meet Bill
63
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
55
Mister Lonely
52
My Blueberry Nights
71
My Brother Is an Only Child
55
Noise
63
OSS 117: Cairo - Nest of Spies
83
Paranoid Park
55
Pathology
48
Penelope
90
Persepolis
62
Planet B-Boy
xx
Plumm Summer, A
67
Praying with Lior
46
Previous Engagement, A
72
Priceless
80
Reprise
71
Roman de gare
48
Run, Fat Boy, Run
50
Sangre de mi sangre
85
Savages, The
24
Sex and Death 101
66
Shelter
75
Shotgun Stories
40
Sleepwalking
67
Snow Angels
67
Son of Rambow
71
Standard Operating Procedure
76
Stuff and Dough
68
Surfwise
xx
Tashan
82
Taxi to the Dark Side
57
Teeth
56
Then She Found Me
55
Tracey Fragments, The
55
Turn the River
72
Tuya's Marriage
83
U2 3D
59
Under the Same Moon
76
Unforeseen, The
66
Unsettled
90
Up the Yangtze
55
Vice
79
Visitor, The
xx
War, Inc.
64
Water Lilies
45
Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?
57
Without the King
75
Witnesses, The
63
XXY
67
Year My Parents Went on Vacation, The
75
Young@Heart
45
Zombie Strippers
97
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
92
Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The
90
Up the Yangtze
90
Persepolis
87
Flight of the Red Balloon, The
85
Savages, The
83
Paranoid Park
83
Chop Shop
83
Alexandra
83
U2 3D
83
Edge of Heaven, The
82
Taxi to the Dark Side
80
Reprise
80
Band's Visit, The
79
Visitor, The
78
Counterfeiters, The
76
Unforeseen, The
76
Stuff and Dough
75
Young@Heart
75
Witnesses, The
75
Shotgun Stories
73
Duchess of Langeais, The
72
Priceless
72
Tuya's Marriage
72
Life of Reilly, The
71
Standard Operating Procedure
71
Roman de gare
71
My Brother Is an Only Child
71
Blindsight
70
Caramel
69
Chicago 10
68
Surfwise
68
Honeydripper
67
Snow Angels
67
Praying with Lior
67
Jellyfish
67
Year My Parents Went on Vacation, The
67
Son of Rambow
66
George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead
66
Unsettled
66
Shelter
65
Battle for Haditha
65
Married Life
64
Water Lilies
63
XXY
63
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
63
OSS 117: Cairo - Nest of Spies
63
Blind Mountain
62
Planet B-Boy
62
Dhamma Brothers, The
61
Girls Rock!
60
Body of War
59
Under the Same Moon
58
First Saturday in May, The
58
Fall, The
58
Hats Off
58
Bra Boys
57
Flawless
57
Teeth
57
Fugitive Pieces
57
Without the King
57
Grand, The
56
Then She Found Me
55
Vice
55
Turn the River
55
Tracey Fragments, The
55
Mister Lonely
55
Noise
55
Pathology
55
Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts
54
Cashback
52
My Blueberry Nights
51
Jihad for Love, A
50
Sangre de mi sangre
50
Look
49
Dark Matter
48
Run, Fat Boy, Run
48
Penelope
47
Bella
47
Boarding Gate
46
CJ7
46
Previous Engagement, A
45
Zombie Strippers
45
Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?
44
Frontier(s)
44
Chaos Theory
43
Anamorph
43
Favor, The
41
Funny Games
40
Sleepwalking
37
Life Before Her Eyes, The
35
Meet Bill
35
Babysitters, The
35
Deal
32
Backseat
32
Chapter 27
30
Cover
24
Sex and Death 101
20
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
xx
Tashan
xx
Plumm Summer, A
xx
Children of Huang Shi, The
xx
Kiss the Bride
xx
War, Inc.
xx
Jack and Jill vs. the World
xx
From Within
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Hairspray
New Line Cinema
MPAA RATING: PG for language, some suggestive content and momentary teen smoking
Starring
Nikki Blonsky,
John Travolta,
Amanda Bynes,
Queen Latifah,
Michelle Pfeiffer,
Christopher Walken,
Allison Janney,
and
James Marsden
Based on the 1988 John Waters’ cult classic, Hairspray is the story of Tracy Turnblad, a big girl with big hair and an even bigger heart, who has only one passion—dancing. When her dream of becoming a regular personality on “The Corny Collins Show” comes true, she wins many fans and becomes an advocate for integration. (New Line Cinema)
| GENRE(S): |
Comedy
|
Drama
|
Musical
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
John Waters (1988 screenplay)
Mark O'Donnell (musical play)
Leslie Dixon
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Adam Shankman
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: November 20, 2007
Theatrical: July 20, 2007
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
94 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
100
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
The best and most entertaining movie adaptation of a stage musical so far this century - and yes, I’m including the Oscar-winning "Chicago."

100
Christian Science Monitor
Peter Rainer
A feel-good musical that, for a change, actually makes you feel good.

100
Baltimore Sun
Michael Sragow
In its entirety, Hairspray has the funny tilt that only a director-choreographer like Shankman can give to a movie.

100
Chicago Reader
Albert Williams
With its wisecracking screenplay, period-perfect pop score, and Shankman's splashy choreography, this may be the funniest, dancingest screen musical since "Singin' in the Rain."

100
New York Daily News
Jack Mathews
A great big sloppy kiss of entertainment for audiences weary of explosions, CGI effects and sequels, sequels, sequels.

100
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle
Movie magic.

91
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
William Arnold
Broad and funny, its sensibility is very campy and it's out to be loved by everyone.

91
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
A fizzy and delirious high-camp message-movie musical that may just turn out to be the happiest movie of the summer.

91
Portland Oregonian
Shawn Levy
So good at what it does that it can exhaust you: In the later going, one big number follows on the heels of another so quickly that it feels more like an opera than a regular musical.

88
Charlotte Observer
Lawrence Toppman
The film's an irresistible time capsule of that Camelot summer, blending girrrrrl power, social consciousness and faux-'60s pop with the fizz of a soda jerk whipping up a root beer float.

88
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
Just plain fun. Or maybe not so plain. There's a lot of craft and slyness lurking beneath the circa-1960s goofiness.

88
Boston Globe
Ty Burr
If you look fast, you'll see Waters himself in a cameo (as a flasher; what else?), proof the new film is in touch with its dyed roots.

88
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
It's hard to resist the film's exuberance.

88
Philadelphia Inquirer
Carrie Rickey
A rocking, rollicking crowd-pleaser.

80
Los Angeles Times
Carina Chocano
What it offers isn't really a nostalgic look at a "more innocent time" so much as a saucy wink at a casually vicious time that is constantly being sold to us as innocent.

80
The New York Times
A.O. Scott
The overall mood of Hairspray is so joyful, so full of unforced enthusiasm, that only the most ferocious cynic could resist it.

80
Variety
Dennis Harvey
It's one of the best Broadway-tuner adaptations in recent years -- yes, arguably even better than those Oscar-winning ones.

80
Empire
Will Lawrence
Offering plenty of body and a lot of lift, Hairspray gels kitsch styling with show-stopping tunes to mould a memorable musical.

80
Newsweek
David Ansen
Shankman and his screenwriter, Leslie Dixon, prove you can make a lightweight Broadway musical into big movie fun.

78
Austin Chronicle
Steve Davis
If ever there were a happy summer movie, it’s Hairspray. But for all its bubbly musical numbers and effervescent good humor, this film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical feels oddly lacquered -- it’s John Waters by way of Disney.

75
Chicago Tribune
Michael Phillips
Less polished but more fun than "Dreamgirls." Both are drag revues at heart, one funny, the other serious. I prefer the funny one.

75
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
The film isn't deep or thematically rich or filled with amazing characters. Instead, it's an excursion into song and dance, and works admirably on that level.

75
Premiere
Glenn Kenny
This Hairspray really is a lot of fun -- colorful, sassy, and brisk.

75
USA Today
Claudia Puig
John Travolta may stand out as a plus-size laundress who is hesitant, drab and retiring, but Hairspray is a consistently flashy, rousing and rambunctious movie spectacle.

75
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
Delivers an even bigger sugar rush than the hit Broadway musical.

75
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Scott Tobias
Though the film is too slick and heavy-handed in its pro-integration sloganeering, and it's burdened by Travolta's ill-conceived star turn, its infectious high spirits and catchy tunes still pack one hell of a sugar rush.

75
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
For all the flash and flutter, the movie overall lacks, well, HEFT.

70
Film Threat
Pete Vonder Haar
Hairspray isn’t all that bad, frankly. The songs are catchy, most of the leads are engaging enough (Blonksy and Bynes especially), and there’s just enough low-key subversiveness to keep everything from getting too saccharine.

70
Salon.com
Stephanie Zacharek
Travolta, looking believably pretty and sweet under layers of fondant Latex, is a wholly different incarnation of Edna. And he's not bad. But that right there is the problem with Hairspray: It's all so "not bad" that it isn't nearly enough, even when Shankman and his cast work hard to send it soaring over the top.

70
Wall Street Journal
Joanne Kaufman
In the musical numbers, where by rights Mr. Travolta should shine, he's almost out-danced and certainly out-charmed by Edna's better half, Wilbur (Christopher Walken), who is one of the movie's great assets, an oasis of calm amid the twisting and shouting.

70
New York Magazine
David Edelstein
Adam Shankman's movie of the Broadway Hairspray gets better as it lumbers along, but there’s something garish about its hustle--it’s like an elephant trumpeting in your face.

70
The New Yorker
David Denby
The movie version of the hit Broadway musical Hairspray is perfectly pleasant--I smiled to myself all the way through it--but it’s not as exhilarating as the show.

70
Washington Post
Peter Marks
When Hairspray is twisting and shouting and swiveling its hips, you can even dare to believe a great society is waiting in the wings.

70
Slate
Dana Stevens
This movie-turned-stage-show-turned-movie-again is intermittently tasty, if a little too frantically eager to please.

70
The Hollywood Reporter
Michael Rechtshaffen
John Travolta takes on John Waters in Hairspray, and the result is anything but a drag in this appealingly goofy, all-singing, all-dancing screen adaptation of the Broadway musical based on the 1988 film.

63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Rick Groen
What completely undermines that appearance is Shankman's chronic inability to shoot the damn scene. His camerawork is so stiff it should be interred in a pine box.

50
Village Voice
Scott Foundas
The movie is visually flat: not pasty and garish in the Waters signature style, but merely serviceable and competent in the worst tradition of Hollywood "professionalism."


The average user rating for this movie is 7.5 (out of 10) based on 129 User Votes
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