What is missing from Hairspray is anything beyond the faintest whisper of camp. The original Hairspray may have been Waters' most wholesome, least naughty film, but there was no containing the volcanic audacity of Divine, who created the role of Edna Turnblad. Divine, who was born Harris Glen Milstead and who died shortly after the first Hairspray was released, belonged to an era when drag performance still carried more than a touch of the louche and the dangerous, and was one of the artists who helped push it into the cultural mainstream.
Perhaps wisely, Travolta does not try to duplicate the outsize, deliberately grotesque theatricality of Divine's performance or to mimic the Mermanesque extravagance of Harvey Fierstein's Broadway turn, choosing instead to tackle the role of Edna as an acting challenge. The odd result is that she becomes the most realistic, least stereotypical character in the film, and the only one who speaks in a recognizable (if not always convincing) Baltimore accent. ("Ahm tryna orn," she complains when she's trying to iron.)
A shy, unsophisticated, working-class woman, Edna is ashamed of her physical size even as she seems to hide inside it, as if seeking protection from the noise and indignity of the world outside. It is Tracy who pulls her out of her shell, and without entirely letting go of Edna's timidity, Travolta explores the exhibitionistic and sensual sides of her personality.
Walken's gallantry in the role of Edna's devoted husband, Wilbur, is unforced and disarmingly sincere, and their duet, (You're) Timeless to Me, is one of the film's musical high points. Another is Without Love, in which the two young couples express their yearning with the help of some ingenious and amusing special effects.
There are, to be sure, less thrilling moments, and stretches in which the pacing falters. But the overall mood of Hairspray is so joyful, so full of unforced enthusiasm, that only the most ferocious cynic could resist it. It imagines a world in which no one is an outsider and no one is a square, and invites everyone in. How can you refuse?
FILM NOTES:
Hairspray
DIRECTED BY: Adam Shankman
STARRING: John Travolta, (Edna Turnblad), Michelle Pfeiffer (Velma Von Tussle), Christopher Walken (Wilbur Turnblad), Amanda Bynes (Penny Pingleton), James Marsden (Corny Collins), Queen Latifah (Motormouth Maybelle), Brittany Snow (Amber Von Tussle), Zac Efron (Link Larkin), Elijah Kelley (Seaweed), Allison Janney (Prudy Pingleton), Jerry Stiller (Pinky), Paul Dooley (Spritzer), Nikki Blonsky (Tracy Turnblad)
RUNNING TIME: 107 minutes
TAIWAN RELEASE: Today
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