Rating: PG
Genre:
Comedy
Theatrical Release: 02/26/1988(USA)
Release Date: 11/05/2002
SubTitles: English
Dubbed: English
Sound: DD5.1/DDS
Run Time: 92 Minutes
Flags: Adult Situations, Questionable for Children, Adult Language, Scatological Humor, Suitable for Teens
Distributor/Studio: New Line Home Video
Forever interested in the kitsch built into past eras, director
John Waters chooses the TV dance show craze of the early '60s for his playful focus in
Hairspray.
Ricki Lake plays
Tracy Turnblad, just one of several alliteratively named characters coming of age in 1962 Baltimore, where "The Corny Collins Show" is the most popular
American Bandstand-type program, watched by hundreds of young dreamers each day after school. Being chosen to dance on it is the ultimate status symbol and every young girl's dream, and
Tracy improbably wins a featured spot when she infiltrates a dance contest and makes a better impression than her favored rival, the catty
Amber von Tussle (
Colleen Fitzpatrick). Always able to have fun, even when she's being mocked by the jealous popular girls,
Tracy wins the affections of
Amber's boyfriend and soon begins leading a movement to integrate the dance show, which has previously featured blacks only in a once-weekly theme night. She is arrested following a demonstration at a local theme park owned by
Amber's father (
Sonny Bono), who subscribes to the same theory of race relations as "The Corny Collins Show."
Tracy's adventures are also filtered through her loving but eccentric parents (
Divine and
Jerry Stiller) and involve a humorous cultural clash with pot-smoking beatniks (
Ric Ocasek and
Pia Zadora).
~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
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