Normally I don't quote other people's blog entries, but this post by Dan Renzi describes my fear about the Hairspray movie. It went from a glorious John Waters spectacle in the original movie to a not-quite-so glorious John Waters spectacle on Broadway but you didn't care because Harvey Fierstein and the score were just brilliant. Evidently now it's been watered down to appeal to the masses. I'm still waiting for Netflix.
"Saw an advance screening of Hairspray last night.
I was extremely excited.
It's not the deepest piece of cinema you're ever going to see, so I'll be brief.
1) John Travolta is very funny and completely steals this whole movie.
2) But the rest of the cast plays the whole thing entirely straight--I'm not sure if anyone actually saw the original movie. Almost every shred of the John Waters aesthetic has been washed out--nothing is edgy, nothing is sexy, nothing even comes close to being shocking. The fact that Divine played Edna Turnblatt in the original movie wasn't just to have a drag queen running around; Divine was only one part of the larger twisted flavor of the film. In this blase' version, there's really no reason to have John Travolta dressed up in drag at all. So his (excellent) performance seems very random and out-of-place.
3) The truest performance actually comes from Amanda Bynes, and that's just because she can't act. In this movie, she's pretty fun, she's the only one who "gets it."
4) The dancing? Fabulous. But after a while, you don't care.
5) The outcome: a totally mediocre movie. I say, wait for the DVD, it's not worth ten bucks plus popcorn. It's odd to think that this film--which is based on a John Waters story--is actually the perfect summer film to take your kids.
Kind of a bummer. Hopefully Harry Potter is better."
"Saw an advance screening of Hairspray last night.
I was extremely excited.
It's not the deepest piece of cinema you're ever going to see, so I'll be brief.
1) John Travolta is very funny and completely steals this whole movie.
2) But the rest of the cast plays the whole thing entirely straight--I'm not sure if anyone actually saw the original movie. Almost every shred of the John Waters aesthetic has been washed out--nothing is edgy, nothing is sexy, nothing even comes close to being shocking. The fact that Divine played Edna Turnblatt in the original movie wasn't just to have a drag queen running around; Divine was only one part of the larger twisted flavor of the film. In this blase' version, there's really no reason to have John Travolta dressed up in drag at all. So his (excellent) performance seems very random and out-of-place.
3) The truest performance actually comes from Amanda Bynes, and that's just because she can't act. In this movie, she's pretty fun, she's the only one who "gets it."
4) The dancing? Fabulous. But after a while, you don't care.
5) The outcome: a totally mediocre movie. I say, wait for the DVD, it's not worth ten bucks plus popcorn. It's odd to think that this film--which is based on a John Waters story--is actually the perfect summer film to take your kids.
Kind of a bummer. Hopefully Harry Potter is better."
1 comment:
Um, John Waters 'Hairspray' is also the 'perfect film to take your kids'. It's John Waters most commercial film to date. It's rated PG for goodness sake.
I'm glad no one watched the original film, otherwise we'd just get copy cat performances.
It's funny though, because John Travolta's Edna is probably the most drastic departure from previous interpretaions in the whole movie.
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