This fast-moving film had a number of good and bad things going for or against it....at least with me.
It was very corny, but that was the idea. In fact, one of the characters is named "Corny Collins." It was pretty charming film, too, with the put-ons about the old American Bandstand-type dance shows that were television for years. "Hairspray" features some good 1960s music, too.
The first half of this movie is about local teens of that period and the dance and petty jealousies in the group while the second half theme is all about racism. When I saw this movie in the mid '90s, I was shocked to see talk show host Ricki Lake in here, and looking so young and fat. She was way overweight, but was a good dancer. (Some of the dances in here are hilarious.) Her mother in the film was played by transvestite "Divine." Yes, this is a another movie by the sick director John Waters who loved to feature Divine in his films, this being probably the most tame story he put on screen.
The film takes place in Baltimore, and whether racism in that city was a bad as Waters portrays it here, I don't know, but I wouldn't be happy if I lived in that city and saw this movie. However, this film is like "Leave It To Beaver" combined to some of the other stuff Waters has produced over the years.
It was very corny, but that was the idea. In fact, one of the characters is named "Corny Collins." It was pretty charming film, too, with the put-ons about the old American Bandstand-type dance shows that were television for years. "Hairspray" features some good 1960s music, too.
The first half of this movie is about local teens of that period and the dance and petty jealousies in the group while the second half theme is all about racism. When I saw this movie in the mid '90s, I was shocked to see talk show host Ricki Lake in here, and looking so young and fat. She was way overweight, but was a good dancer. (Some of the dances in here are hilarious.) Her mother in the film was played by transvestite "Divine." Yes, this is a another movie by the sick director John Waters who loved to feature Divine in his films, this being probably the most tame story he put on screen.
The film takes place in Baltimore, and whether racism in that city was a bad as Waters portrays it here, I don't know, but I wouldn't be happy if I lived in that city and saw this movie. However, this film is like "Leave It To Beaver" combined to some of the other stuff Waters has produced over the years.