Written by Luke Barnes
Summary
A group of teens sing and dance to protest segregation.
This review might be controversial to some people, as in some circles Hairspray is a beloved classic up there with Grease, however I think this is far from true and that by having far too much on its plate this film becomes a mess.
Overstretching can be seen as the film does not just try and be a fun breezy musical, but also a socially conscious narrative that brings in topics such as racism and sizeism. The film struggles to develop all three of these aspects simultaneously and as such often neglects one or the other of them. Moreover, within the film’s first act there is a an incredibly awkward transitionary period where these racial themes are injected into the film and it diverts from being simply a silly musical, as the film takes this turn the whole narrative slows down and it feels as though the film you are watching has ended and a new one begun.
The songs aren’t anything special either, for the most part it just feels like you could be watching any musical and if you close your eyes it could even be Highschool Musical. They did very little for me.
Overall, seeing John Travolta sing and dance in a fat suit made it worth my time.
Pros.
It was watchable
Travolta
Cons.
The songs aren’t very good
The tone is inconsistent
It’s message is generic and has been said before
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Another Millennial Reviewer 