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Hairspray
New Line Cinema


7.7

based on 37 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 142 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

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.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Broad and funny, its sensibility is very campy and it's out to be loved by everyone.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

It's hard to resist the film's exuberance.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

A rocking, rollicking crowd-pleaser.

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.

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.

Variety Dennis Harvey

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

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.

Newsweek David Ansen

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

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.

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.

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.

Premiere Glenn Kenny

This Hairspray really is a lot of fun -- colorful, sassy, and brisk.

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.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Delivers an even bigger sugar rush than the hit Broadway musical.

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.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

For all the flash and flutter, the movie overall lacks, well, HEFT.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Slate Dana Stevens

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

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.

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.

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 7.7 (out of 10) based on 142 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Javier M gave it a10:
Great movie and great songs. "Hairspray" is a very funny spectacle for all family. Zac Efron and Nikki Blonsky sings like the angels and her characters are unforgetables.

Christina K. gave it a10:
A great movie, loved every minute. Great songs too.

Harris K. gave it a2:
Puh-lease. I can't believe a movie with a few catchy songs can automatically get starred reviews! This movies story is extremely cliche and very cheesy. Even all the songs sound the same.

Heather R. gave it a10:
Excellent! The songs are very catchy; they never get out of your head! From the first note you fall in love with Niki and Penny. They make a great team and whole cast makes the movie a feel good flick. T They just don't make a lot of movies that are happy anymore; all you see is tears and blood. This movie is awesome and anyone should go see it, then ( just like I did ) go buy the songs of ITunes!

Mike gave it a1:
Very colorful, likable for the first 15 mins, and then it just became annoying! Travolts sucks a woman, he didn't look like one, didn't move like one, or speak like one. Also this is a "MUSICAL" so why are actors singing when they don't have the talent too sing!

Lenny C. gave it a3:
If you have never seen a train wreck, watch this movie, it is an hour and a half boring music video with no let up, i felt like sceeming,, "STOP THE MUSIC"

[Anonymous] gave it a1:
A terrible, overlong, bland, stupid, unoriginal, overblown, hammed-up waste of space, for reasons that are too glaring and all-consuming to even begin discussing here.

Hairspray New Line Cinema

Hairspray
New Line Cinema