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Hairspray
New Line Cinema

Hairspray reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 81 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
7.5 out of 10
based on 37 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 129 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

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 

What The Critics Said

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."
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100
Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
A feel-good musical that, for a change, actually makes you feel good.
Read Full Review
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.
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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."
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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.
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100
San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
Movie magic.
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91
Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
Broad and funny, its sensibility is very campy and it's out to be loved by everyone.
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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.
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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.
Read Full Review
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.
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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.
Read Full Review
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.
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88
Rolling Stone Peter Travers
It's hard to resist the film's exuberance.
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88
Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
A rocking, rollicking crowd-pleaser.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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80
Newsweek David Ansen
Shankman and his screenwriter, Leslie Dixon, prove you can make a lightweight Broadway musical into big movie fun.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Read Full Review
75
Premiere Glenn Kenny
This Hairspray really is a lot of fun -- colorful, sassy, and brisk.
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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.
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75
Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
Delivers an even bigger sugar rush than the hit Broadway musical.
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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.
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75
TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
For all the flash and flutter, the movie overall lacks, well, HEFT.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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70
Slate Dana Stevens
This movie-turned-stage-show-turned-movie-again is intermittently tasty, if a little too frantically eager to please.
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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.
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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.
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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."
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What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 7.5 (out of 10) based on 129 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Haley R gave it a9:
Feel-good movie of the year. The musical numbers were fabulously choreographed (thanks to director-choreographer Adam Shankman), and the performances were fantastic. John Travolta's and Nikki Blonsky's performances were among the best of its genre. Definitely one of the best movies of the year.

Ken M. gave it a10:
Just when you thought Hollywood couldn't do anything feel-good, it comes through with this. Blonsky, Efron, Kelley and Bynes are awesome -- and they aren't even the "name" players. John Travolta goes where Harvey Fierstein and Divine have gone before. Great job. Motormouth wasn't written for Queen Latifah, but she redefined it. This generation's "Grease"? This movie has more substance and better music.

Frasier M. gave it a9:
This movie is fantastic I think! The music is alive and fresh. I would've gave this a ten, but Zac Efron is in it. Sorry but he is a horrible actor! I don't care how hot girls think he is! He is a horrible actor who needs to be a model. He can't sing either! He was a horrible actor in this movie! And he is so not the type to curse in a movie. He sounds like it was a forced cuss word! Please get a good child star that has the balls to not sound all choked whenever he cusses!

Charles B. gave it a7:
Very long, poor musics, but impressive actings. John Travolta and Nikki Blonsky should be nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor and Best Actress respectively. The Art Direction and Costumes should too. The negative side of the movie is your musics (worse) and your duration (very long), making it exhausting.

J K. gave it a3:
Boring, Cheesy, Goofy, Pretentious...... Like a loud and stupid version of American History X for kids.

Curtis D. gave it a10:
I LOVED this movie. I am a big fan of the original 1988 movie, never had the chance to see the Broadway show, But thought this movie was perfect. I had some reservation about Travolta and Efron and never knew that Marsden could sing. But I was very pleasantly surprised. This is definitely one of the best movies of the year and definitely one to the top Hollywood Musicals of all time.

Adam J. gave it a10:
A modern classic! Can't remember when I laughed as hard nor felt as good at the cinema before? John Travolta and Christopher Walken is a cute couple as well! See this movie or regret it for the rest of your life!

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