A new and improved version of ‘Hairspray’
When it comes to remakes of old movies, it’s hard to know what
to expect. Sometimes the new version is just a skeleton of the old,
as in the remodeling of 1963’s
”
Charade
”
with Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn into the 2002 film,
”
The Truth About Charlie.
”
The remake starred Thandie Newton and Mark Wahlberg as the main
characters and it lacked the chemistry between the two that the
original had. The plot was also less straight-forward as director
Jonathan Demme tried to turn the film into more of a thriller than
the off-beat romance it had been.
A new and improved version of ‘Hairspray’
When it comes to remakes of old movies, it’s hard to know what to expect. Sometimes the new version is just a skeleton of the old, as in the remodeling of 1963’s “Charade” with Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn into the 2002 film, “The Truth About Charlie.” The remake starred Thandie Newton and Mark Wahlberg as the main characters and it lacked the chemistry between the two that the original had. The plot was also less straight-forward as director Jonathan Demme tried to turn the film into more of a thriller than the off-beat romance it had been.
In other instances, the new directors and actors stick to the screenplay exactly. I had seen “No Reservations” a while ago. This weekend I tried to watch the original German film it was based on, “Mostly Martha,” but the subtitles were word for word what had come out of Catherine Zeta-Jones’ and Aaron Eckhart’s mouths.
“Hairspray,” the 2007 musical-version, is one of the remakes that took the original screenplay and improved on it. “Hairspray” is the tale of an unlikely heroine, a chubby teenage girl who just wants to dance along with white and black teens on a television dance show. The problem is, in 1962 in Baltimore, Tracy Turnblad’s desire for integration isn’t all that hip. The casting in the original film is offbeat and most of the actors are unknown. Tracy is played by Ricki Lake, with her mom played hilariously by Divine, a transvestite who is appeared in many John Waters films.
The new film goes for a cast of much more well-known actors. Director Adam Shankman chose a man to play Tracy’s mother once gain. John Travolta takes a turn as Edna Turnblad and Christopher Walken plays his husband. Other well-known names were chosen for all the characters such as Disney channel heartthrob Zac Efron, Amanda Bynes, James Marsden and Michelle Pfeiffer. One of the unknown actors in the new film is Nikki Blonsky, who audition for the part of Tracy and won out over thousands of dark-haired, chubby girls who can dance and sing from across the nation.
The storyline is similar in both movies, but the script is rewritten enough that the new movie doesn’t feel exactly the same. The pace in the new movie is better since it takes longer for our heroine to win her love interest and there is more conflict between the Turnblads and the station owner who runs the dance show.
While the original is funny and weird, it is the songs and the dancing that make the new one work much better for me. And the choreography of Adam Shankman, who directed the 2007 version, can’t be touched by the dancing in the original whose choreographer was listed way, way down at the bottom of the internet movie database listing for the movie. The songs and dancing just make the movie so funny and upbeat, I couldn’t help tapping my foot along to the music.
And the new script improved on some of the funnier moments in the original, where putting on hairspray is a form of foreplay. My favorite line is from the song Tracy sings when she falls for heartthrob Link Larkin (Zac Efron) after he bumps into her.
“We’ll kiss in his car,” she sings. “I won’t go all the way, but I’ll go pretty far.”
I like musicals and I like dancing – one of my favorite shows right now is “So you think you can dance.” I just wish I could be as coordinated as those people, but since I’m not, I marvel at the ways the human body can be thrown around when dancers know what they are doing. But the guy who went to see the film with me admitted he enjoyed it as well, so it’s not just a “girl movie.” He even saw it despite unseemly comments from his best friend about guys who watch that kind of movie. His favorite part of the movie is the scene in which Wilbur Turnblad (Walken) tries to win back Edna (Travolta) when she suspects him of having an affair. The two coo to each other and waltz together, and the combination of a very plump Travolta in drag and the stick-thin Walken is about the funniest scene in the movie.
