the movieGOOMBA

I walked into the UltraStar here in San Diego feeling pretty crummy. As the orphan boys in the book I'm currently reading, The Long Run, would say, I was having a case of "the spells." The seats were only filled with a handful of senior citizen who came in three pairs. I sat down in the corner of the cold, dark theater for a matinee showing of Hairspray trying to decide if watching a movie alone was really the right thing for me to be doing at the moment. The lights dimmed, the opening credits rolled, and the moment I heard Tracy Turnblad voice sing "Good Morning Baltimore" my face broke into a ginormous smile that couldn't be turned off anytime she was on screen.

High school student, Tracey Turnblad is just an everyday teenage girl. Perky, out-going, and optimistic, she loves to dance, and has her heart devoted to teen heartthrob, Link Larkin, who also just happens to be her classmate and a dancer on "The Corny Collins Show." When a dancing spot opens up, Tracey is gung-ho for the audition, but is turned away because of her pleasantly plump features. Hairspray focuses its attention on the largest issue that faced the 1960's, black integration, and Tracey Turnblad is a refreshingly heroic presence amidst all the clamour of a serious problem.

Hairspray has had an interesting evolution. It started out as an 80's film and was then adapted into a Broadway Musical. Then Hollywood wanted it back to remake Hairspray as a musical, which they achieved with flying colors. As the closing credits began to roll, the old ladies in the theater put it best when they all said practically in unison, "That was cute!!!" with a satisfied, uplifted tone. It was cute! There's no other way to describe it. New-found talent, Nikki Blonsky, was both adorable and gorgeous. She made me want to love life as fiercely as she did, but not in a gag-me-you're-too-goodie-goodie kind of way. She had sex-appeal and emoted a wide range of feelings that anyone whose ever lived through high school can relate to. Though she's may be an everyday teenager, there is nothing ordinary about her.

The notable cast had a hard time competing with Blonsky. Zach Efron is a little too pretty for my taste but displayed genuine, bubblegum talent (I think that's an oxymoron). Michelle Pfeiffer played a really good prissy bitch, and John Travolta was . . . kind of weird. Did he seem really strange to you? I wonder why these Hairspray movies always have a man play Tracey's mother. . . Anyway, his character brought a touch of The Nutty Professor comic relief to the film, but nothing more, thank God.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this film. I'm going to go out and buy the soundtrack so that on those days when I get a case of "the spells", I'll know what I need to do, and for that reason, this movie will always have a special place in my heart.