HAIRSPRAY

RYAN: Hip hip hooray for “Hairspray!”

CAROLINE: We have been so excited to see this movie because we adore musicals.

RYAN: And this one was obviously going to translate well into a film since it originally was a film even before it was a Broadway musical.

CAROLINE: I have such a fondness for the original John Waters version from 1988, so I was a little worried that this new movie couldn’t compare. But it’s different enough that I can somewhat get over it. And it has a lot of fun winks and nods to the original movie, as well as some great cameos that I won’t reveal.

RYAN: There was a lot of casting controversy surrounding this film starting with John Travolta.

CAROLINE: …who I thought was actually pretty good. But I have to agree with my friend Jenny, who pointed out that he makes his character much too feminine. The whole point of Edna Turnblad is that she’s a man in obvious drag. But in this movie, John Travolta chooses to be as female as possible, including wearing a full-body female fat suit.

RYAN: He plays the role as if he’s a woman, not a drag queen. I’m all for reinventing and originality, so I enjoyed his take on it and I thought he was excellent. And I’m surprised that I’m saying that because I was prepared to judge him harshly. By the by, all the casting was great! Michelle Pfeiffer is fierce.

CAROLINE: She is brilliantly bitchy in this role. I loved her. I’m gonna make an early call and say that I see a Best Supporting Actress nod for her.

RYAN: Hell to the yes!

CAROLINE: And I’m pleased to say that Nikki Blonsky is, in fact, all that. She was great. What a voice!

RYAN: I’m so pleasantly surprised by how good she was because she has the lead role and it’s a lot of pressure for her. And it’s her first film role ever! The only weak link for me was Brittany Snow as Amber von Tussle. I thought she bland.

CAROLINE: I didn’t mind her actually. But I was disappointed by Amanda Bynes. I loved the original Penny Pingleton from the John Waters version because she was so spacey and funny, but I didn’t get that from Amanda. And in one scene she has very weird spray tan.

RYAN: Her spray tan was disgusting, but her singing voice was amazing. I’m a big fan of hers. And Zac Efron could give Justin Timberlake a run for his money with an album of his own.

CAROLINE: Ew, I hope he doesn’t. I want him to keep doing movie musicals and not do a dumb pop album. But LBH, if I were a 15-year-old, I would be drooling over Zac. He winks like nobody else. Look for it several times in the movie – it’ll make your heart skip a beat.

RYAN: And James Marsden, who sang a lot on “Ally McBeal,” did himself proud in this movie.

CAROLINE: He was so great! He plays Corny Collins and he’s perfect. I had no clue he could sing and dance. He’s one of those actors whose name you never remember and then you see him in a movie and go, “Oh yeah, that guy! He’s really good.” Ladies, FYI – he played the fiancé in “The Notebook.”

RYAN: I was watching him in this movie and wondering why he’s not on my Top 5 Hottest Men in Hollywood list. And Queen Latifah, who is fast becoming the Judy Garland of our era, in that she’s in every movie musical that comes out these days, was merely OK in “Hairspray.” She’s got a good voice, but not a great one.

CAROLINE: She’s fine, but I liked her so much more in “Chicago.” We should also mention that Allison Janney is a riot as Penny’s mom, and Christopher Walken is under-used but very sweet as Tracy’s dad. Bottom line?

RYAN: The camera work and pacing of the movie is phenomenal. The use of color, the costumes, the scenic design – everything is so bright and festive, I was beaming up at the screen. I didn’t cry but I welled up a bit toward the end because I was so overtaken with the excitement. Big shocker – I loved this movie!

CAROLINE: I really liked it and I think Adam Shankman did an excellent job with the direction and choreography. I’m a big fan of his after seeing him as a judge on “So You Think You Can Dance” last week. Overall, I would say I loved this movie for the first hour and was thinking, “This is fabulous! I have to see this on Broadway immediately!” But I didn’t love the last 45 minutes as much. There were some pivotal scenes from the original movie that were cut out, and I missed them. And the second half just dragged a little for me.

RYAN: But the end was so fun, dance-y and climactic. There was only one scene that dragged for me and it was a Queen Latifah ballad. But you forgive it because it’s pivotal to the movie.

CAROLINE: It’s definitely a great, fun movie that I’d highly recommend. I just thought it dragged a little in parts.

RYAN: Get up and go see it! It’s time we started giving box office to movie musicals!!