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particularly black T.V. host Motormouth Maybelle (Latifah), her son Seaweed (Elijah Kelley), Penny's zealot mother (Allison Janney) and the Turnblad parents, Edna and Wilbur (Travolta and Walken).
Travolta's casting, odd as it may sound, is very good. The role of Edna is traditionally played by a man in drag Divine in the original film, Harvey Fierstein or Michael McKean on Broadway but Travolta, interestingly, tones down the inherent camp value in the role and finds a sweeter, more timid tone, here portraying Edna as a character ashamed of her weight and frightened of the changing world she dares not venture into.

Add to that terrific performances by Latifah (reminding us that, yes, she is an Oscar nominee, and it was also for a musical), Kelley (an amazing talent) Marsden and Pfeiffer (plus an out-of-nowhere hilarious minor role from Janney), and you have a very strong supporting cast. But the movie would fail without a strong talent in the character of Tracy, and Blonsky, a young woman plucked from open auditions for the role, nails it.
And before you think this is a whitewashed tale of integration (terrible pun), this is a sneaky, subversive film; it contains a great deal of the irreverence of the Waters film with some great songs from Marc Shaiman, who most may know from his other great film musical, "South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut." There are a great many double entendres at play here, and some unexpectedly sly moments.
All in all, it's an extremely good-natured tale of the need for integration in the 60s, and a clever lampooning of the culture. And you probably won't be able to stop humming the songs.

"Hairspray"
Starring John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Queen Latifah, Nikki Blonsky and Christopher Walken
Directed by Adam Shankman
Runtime: 107 minutes
MPAA rating: PG
Critic's rating: * (out of four)
Bottom line: "Hairspray" is a surprisingly sly, jubilant musical filled with entertaining performances and excellent songs.

Learn more about this author, Clint Craft.
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