Sydney White Movie Review

Before coming up with this blog, I used to keep my Movie List in a day planner which I would carry around with me everywhere. As a conversation starter I would show people my Movie List and ask for recommendations. I have no idea who it was who recommended Sydney White (2007) to me or why, but it was written down and I just now got around to seeing it. It's really not very good, but in its defense it is a very cute movie and is a bit on the creative side.

This modern retelling of the classic fairy tale, Snow White, follows college freshman Sydney White (Amanda Bynes) who has just arrived at Southern Atlantic University ready and eager to pledge to her late mother's sorority. Once upon a time, this sorority was dignified and respectable, but the pristine reputation has been tarnished now that the tyrannical blond Rachel Witchburn (Sara Paxton) has taken over as student council president. Sydney's likable personality soon draws the attention of Tyler Prince (Matt Long), the president of one of the fraternities, much to Rachel's infuriation. After surviving the sorority's vigorous pledging process, Sydney is quickly banished for daring to question Rachel's regime. Now left with nowhere to go but a condemned house on the edge of Greek Row, the dejected and rejected pledge quickly makes friends with the seven dorks who live at the house; the biggest social outcasts on campus. Perhaps if these nerdy frat boys and Sydney can shake up the system with a takeover of the student government, they could restore the once-proud reputation of the prestigious university and offer hope to geeks everywhere.

Sydney White was released the same year as Hairspray which also had Amanda Bynes in it. Hairspray was great, but Sydney White wasn't. Apart from Amanda herself, the acting was just terrible; the cast were primarily amateurs at best. This also was not Ms. Bynes best role. She is still very expressive, has good comedic timing, and is naturally cute. Nevertheless, I think every other role I've seen her is better than this one. Her delivery seemed a bit too artificial and rigid. She still steals the show, but I know Ms. Bynes can do better than this.

What makes the movie so cute and creative is the "Snow White" references. Rachel, the evil queen, has a PC in her room with a campus version of hotornot.com. She's is always #1 hottest in the land, and goes to pieces when Sydney eventually usurps her position. The PC acts like the magic mirror telling the queen who is the fairest in the land. The frat house that the seven dorks live in actually looks a lot like the house of the seven dwarves in Disney's Snow White. It's fun to try and figure out which of Disney's dwarves are represented by which character; Sleepy, Dopey, and Grumpy are pretty obvious. For example, one of the dorks is a foreign student who started school three years ago and still hasn't recovered from the jet lag yet; Sleepy, get it?

There is one point when the seven dorks are walking past Rachel with student council campaign signs slung over their shoulders, imitating the scene of the seven dwarves walking home from the mines. As they pass Rachel, they each say, "Hi, hoe."  I would really love to talk about the poison apple and Sydney's deep sleep are implemented into a modern context, but that is a major event towards the end of the movie and I want to avoid spoilers. That alone gets props and will likely earn a few chuckles.

The story is so full of teen movie clichés it's embarrassing: Karmic revenge, it's okay to be who you are, a formulaic morality tale, don't judge a book by its cover, you should have been with your friends all along, etc. You have seen this movies dozens of times before. There are only a few lines of dialogue that are any good. There's even the one token black guy with almost no dialogue to round out the cast. The story and script simply are not good, and ultimately will not make a lasting impression upon you.

Sydney White was a creative attempt to retell the fairytale of Snow White, but it's just not a good movie. Amanda Bynes aside, the cast is pretty lackluster, and even Bynes herself doesn't really shine in this role. The characters are shallow and predictable, the script is too simple, and the story is remarkably cliché. There is a reason no one remembers this movie. Nevertheless, seeing all the Snow White story elements woven into an otherwise run-of-the-mill teen movie, earns it several points in my book. It really is a cute movie that did a couple of creative things. Apart from some minor bits of language, like the above mentioned "hoe" and a few others, it's also a clean movie that is probably just fine for most viewers. I cannot recommend Sydney White unless the cute Snow White motif really sounds appealing to you. Even then, it's a renter at best.

Would you like to see other classic fairy tales retold in a modern setting like this? What fairy tale retelling would you specifically like to see? Comment below and tell me why!

Rock of Ages Movie Review

I'm not a groupie by any means, but I do enjoy 80's Rock 'n Roll. I am much too reserved to be a legit groupie. Having said that, I was psyched to see Rock of Ages (2012), a movie based on a Broadway musical that exclusively features 80's rock music. How can you go wrong with a rock musical?

Arriving in Hollywood with stars in her eyes, Sherrie (Julianne Hough) meets Drew (Diego Boneta), and together they plunge headlong into the local rock scene in the Sunset Strip, dreaming of Rock 'n Roll stardom. The rock club they work at, The Bourbon Room, is in dire financial strain. The owners Dennis (Alec Baldwin) and Lonny (Russell Brand) are relying on money from a gig by the enigmatic and unreliable rock god Stacie Jaxx (Tom Cruise).  Meanwhile, Patricia Whitmore (Catherine Zeta-Jones) the religiously conservative wife of Los Angeles' Mayor rallies her church to protest in front of The Bourbon Room, planning to shut them down in an attempt to rid L.A. of its "sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll" image. Even with everything riding on the gig, Stacie Jaxx's conniving manager (Paul Giamatti) tries to get away with The Bourbon Room's earnings.

I'd never heard of the Rock of Ages Broadway show before this moving came out. I really liked the idea of a musical with 80's rock music, and there is an outstanding rock classics from artists such as  Def Leppard, Journey, Poison, Guns N' Roses, Joan Jett, Bon Jovi, David Lee Roth, and Twisted Sister among others. And they were so creatively implemented. One of my favorites was when Stacie Jaxx was being interviewed by Rolling Stone Magazine, while describing how his life is much more complicated than it appears, you hear Bon Jovi queuing up in the background and then he starts singing "Wanted Dead or Alive." The other favorite of mine was when The Bourbon Room's clientele are waiting to enter while being scorned by the conservative fanatics. The resulting song is an amazing mash up of Starship's "We Built This City" sung by the rock patrons and Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It" sung by the protesters. The way the songs are worked into the story is extraordinarily creative and even riveting.

The story itself, though isn't all that impressive. Early on, all the stories are fairly intertwined, but they branch off into their own storylines. There were some storylines that I was more invested in than others. The love/separation story between Sherrie and Drew was pretty run of the mill until they went their separate ways and had to compromise their dreams. When they got back together to lament where life had taken them, Sherrie to a waitress at a strip club and Drew to join a pop boy band, it was decided that Drew is the one that hit rock bottom. Stacie Jaxx's story was more interesting with the media hounding him, his fame and status as a rock god on the brink of toppling as rock was giving way to pop. I thought the most interesting storyline was Dennis and Lonny trying to keep The Bourbon Room up and running as they approach bankruptcy and as the conservative fanatics close in on them. Dennis and Lonny are the comic reliefs in the movie; they are funny and manage to make things like a failing business amusing. But in the end each story wasn't all that interesting on its own, and the overall story arch was only vaguely interesting as each storyline interwove with the others.

Getting Tom Cruise to play Stacie Jaxx was a brilliant casting decision. I imagine the role of Stacie Jaxx is a coveted role, like Edna Turnblad in Hairspray or Éponine in Les Miserables. Tom Cruise has a reputation for being a formerly reputable actor who is now crazy, joined the Scientology church, and jumps on Oprah's couch. The character Stacie Jaxx has a very weird personality, is drunk with his own fame, is out of touch with reality, and is kind of a rock god/man child going through a meltdown. Who better to play that sort of role than Tom Cruise? He kind of takes our perception of him as a crazy guy and uses it as a strength, and he does just that immensely well in Rock of Ages.

In the end, Rock of Ages was disappointing. The story just barely kept me engaged and most of the characters were fairly cliché. The sets were great and the costumes were perfect; they really helped sell the late-1980's feel. The music was outstanding, but that's because it was taken from some of the best songs that 80's rock had to offer and provided some excellent covers; the music is what made Rock of Ages any good. The sex scenes were very risqué for a PG-13 movie; Rock of Ages really pushed what I thought was acceptable for a PG-13 movie. It would probably put off some viewers; heck, I found myself averting my eyes. I appreciated that Patricia and the religious conservatives were not picked on for being conservative or religious; the character had a personal vendetta, the movie wasn't out to bash religion or those with conservative ideals.

 This movie is definitely not for everyone. However, if you like rock 'n roll, if you like music, or think you know when the death of rock 'n roll was, you'll probably enjoy Rock of Ages. Even if you are in that category, I still say Rock of Ages is a renter. If you're just there for the music like I was, you could make your own play list out of the movie's soundtrack and rock your soul out to that. There is the fact that Rock of Ages really captured the feeling and vibe of an 80's rock concert that makes watching the movie more fun than listening to some MP3's.

Here's that We Built This City/We're Not Gonna Take It mash-up scene to illustrate the creative usage of the songs:

So, a musical that features classic songs form a specific music genre. If you were writing a musical like that what genre of music would you use? Country? R&B? Pop? Jazz? Whatever the heck it is that Lady Gaga does?  Comment below and tell me about it!

Pitch Perfect review

Not once did I see a promotional ad or trailer for Pitch Perfect (2012). If not for people posting Pitch Perfect images, clips, and quotes on Tumblr, I never would have heard about it. It would have been a shame, too. Pitch Perfect wasn’t exactly my kind of movie, but I must admit that it achieves what it sets out to do very well.

The Barden Bellas are a collegiate, all-girls a cappella singing group thriving on female pop songs and their perfect looks. After a disastrous failing at last year’s national finals, most of the ladies quit. The two remaining members, Chloe (Brittany Snow) and Aubrey (Anna Camp), work on getting a new group of Barden Bellas together for a shot the following year, though the girls who show up for tryouts do not fit the Bellas’ typical mold.  Among the new recruits are Beca (Anna Kendrick), an independent, aspiring DJ with no interest in the college life; a lesbian named Cynthia-Rose (Ester Cean); the promiscuous Stacie Conrad (Alexis Knapp); the quiet, inaudible Asian, Lilly Onakuramara (Hana Mae Lee); and a sarcastic, overweight exchange student from Tasmania who calls herself Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson). But after Beca meets Jesse (Skylar Astin), from the rival all-male a cappella group called the Treblemakers, Beca has a new outlook and takes it upon herself to help the Bellas find their new look and sound to get back into the competition.

Like many movies that feature obscure competitions, Pitch Perfect seems to try to convince us that a cappella music is a big thing that matters to a lot of people. Like, when you have a movie about boxing (Rocky for example), everyone in the whole world seems deeply interested in boxing; but in the real world, I don’t think I’ve met anyone who gives a hoot about it. In Pitch Perfect, Barden University not only has one, but several a cappella singing groups who are all at odds with one another, and there are tons of a cappella groupies that follow each one religiously. Not very realistic, but if it was realistic you might have a small handful of attendees at each of the Barden Bellas events which would make their efforts seem ludicrously trivial.

Pitch Perfect is a musical of sorts. In my mind a musical has the characters randomly breaking out in singing and dancing to songs that are pertinent to the plot or character development, like they do in Hairspray or Les Misérables. Pitch Perfect is about a group of ladies who sing whatever they feel like because that’s what they do. They have singing competitions, practices, etc; they don’t spontaneously burst into a well rehearsed and choreographed number. That’s a bit more believable than a traditional musical. Also, the music used in Pitch Perfect was varied and interesting; songs included contemporary songs like “Don’t Stop the Music” by Rihanna, “Since U Been Gone” by Kelly Clarkson, “Party in the U.S.A.” by Miley Cyrus, and older [better] songs from the 80’s like “Mickey” by Toni Basil, “Hit Me with Your Best Shot”, by Pat Benatar, and “Let It Whip” by Dazz Band. The music is varied and will probably appeal to a large range of viewers.

The humor in Pitch Perfect was hit or miss. Some of the jokes fall flat while others are simply hilarious. I’ve got to give credit to Rebel Wilson as Fat Amy. She’s absolutely hysterical! She’s got a talent for doing comedy; her delivery is spot on, and nearly every one of her lines is a crack up. One of the Treblemakers tries hitting on Fat Amy, “I have a feeling we should kiss. Is that a good feeling or an incorrect feeling?” She responds with, “Well... sometimes I have the feeling I can do crystal meth, but then I think, mmm... better not.” She makes the movie very quotable.

In a lot of movies like these the entirety of a character consists of one attribute that defines them; such as the handsome guy’s character is “The Handsome Guy” or the mean girl is “The Mean Girl.” No depth or character development beyond that; it makes for uninteresting, flat characters. Interestingly, the characters in Pitch Perfect were more developed than I’m sure anyone would have expected. Yes, most of them consist of one attribute that defines them, but for most of them we get some interesting background stories throughout the movie that helps us understand what motivates those behaviors. It makes the characters much more interesting and even relatable.

Pitch Perfect was a lot better than I thought it was going to be. The music is varied, interesting, and will appeal to a wide range of viewers. The characters were more interesting than a typical “teen movie.” The plot is predictable, yet fun and enjoyable. The humor is pretty good, though crude at times; I laughed a good deal throughout. It’s probably not something I’d want my 10 year old to watch, though. The sexual jokes and dialogue gets annoying pretty quick. While I’ve never seen an episode of Glee before, I imagine that Pitch Perfect is like a longer and better written episode. Glee fans will probably love Pitch Perfect. Pitch Perfect knows what it was trying to do and achieved that very well, so I have to say it’s a good movie. I don’t think it’s quite worth buying if you’re not into musicals in general, but I think Pitch Perfect was just good enough to go out and rent. It’s worth at least one viewing, I think.

What is your favorite movie soundtrack? Mine is probably the one from Watchmen. Comment below and tell me about yours!

The Help Movie Review

I enjoy watching movies of simpler times, and of romanticized decades of the early-to-mid-1900s. Occasionally I let myself daydream of living in such times. Then I see a movie like The Help (2011) which makes me realize that these “simpler times” were rife with their own sets of problems. These problems are often downplayed or even ignored in movies for the sake of depicting a sense of nostalgia.

During Civil Rights era Mississippi, Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan (Emma Stone) is a southern society girl who returns from college determined to become a writer. She gets a job writing a cleaning column for her home town’s newspaper, and seeks the advice from one of the local African-American maids. Between observing how the wealthy white families treat their hired help and being told that the nanny who basically raised Skeeter spontaneously moved to Chicago without notice, Skeeter sets out to write a book about the perspective of the black maids and nannies that are so obviously mistreated. She gains the trust of Aibileen Clark (Viola Davis) and later Minny Jackson (Octavia Spencer), a nanny and a maid respectively, and sets about anonymously writing their stories and opinions about working for white people. Skeeter’s perspective on things change and before the story is even sent to the publishers, the whole town has a thing or two to say as they become unwittingly, even unwillingly, caught up in the changing times. The town’s racist, snooty social ringleader Hilly Holbrook (Bryce Dallas Howard) is bent on stopping the stories from becoming public knowledge for the sake of her own reputation and to keep the hired help where she believes their place is.

I’ve reviewed a couple of movies that are set in the 1960’s; Hairspray and X-Men: First Class both depict a fun and exciting vision of the 1960’s. Even Panic in Year Zero had an innocent, Leave It to Beaver sort of quality to it. On one hand, The Help reminds us of the civil rights movement as well as the gross inequality and injustice that were prevalent in the day. But on the other hand, The Help also seems to downplay the pain and widespread suffering of the day, similar to how Hairspray did. The Help is a story about pain, but it seems to avoid actually being painful. Really, we don’t typically go to the movies to see abrasive truths, we like feel-good movies. The Help certainly is a feel good movie with intermittent moments of uncomfortable reality. Still, it takes place in racially segregated Mississippi.

The feel-good quality of The Help doesn’t make it a bad movie, though. It’s well written, and very well acted! The characters were either generic or unique. Hilly isn’t very different from Hairspray’s Velma Von Tussle, and Skeeter is another single girl trying to make it big just like CoyoteUgly’s Violet Sanford. Where the movie really shines is in Aibileen and Minny’s characters. I can’t think of another character that is as downtrodden in quiet sorrow and still shows genuine love for the children under her care like Aibileen. I also can’t think of another character that is as amusingly vindictive and even vengeful towards her own oppressors while still trying to help and teach them the way Minny is. Both Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer stole the show in any scene they happened to be in. They were great!

I couldn’t help but get caught up in the story and become invested in the characters. It was well written and well acted. The sets and costumes were spot on. There was a brief scene in a grocery store. Even it looked like it was taken out of the 1960’s with all the products in 60’s style packaging and everything illuminated with a dull glow from the halogen fixtures above. There was lots of loving detail that went into The Help.

Even though it was a lengthy film at two hours and twenty six minutes, it’s still good. There are some shocking scenes, some funny scenes, touching scenes, and sad scenes. The movie isn’t going to appeal to everyone. You probably won’t enjoy it if you don’t like dramas in general. In spite of good intentions, I felt like some of the characters had subtle bits of racial stereotyping woven in from time to time. It’s subtle, so I didn’t find it terribly offensive. At any rate, I enjoyed The Help. It’s worth seeing if you don’t mind long drama films. It may even be worth buying a copy of should you find it to be entertaining enough. I might do that.

What's your favorite historical movie? Not necessarily a drama; X-Men: First Class was an action movie, after all. Comment below and tell me why!

John Tucker Must Die Movie Review

Even as a teenager, I don’t remember enjoying teen movies all that much. They tend to be very formulaic, have the same cast of characters, and more or less similar stories. I don’t even remember what made me think John Tucker Must Die (2006) would be different, or even good. The only off the wall thing they did was have the happy fat friend and the token black guy end up being the same character. Genius!

Kate (Brittany Snow) is the new girl in school yet again. She quickly learns about John Tucker (Jesse Metcalfe), the insanely attractive, highly popular captain of the basketball team. Kate catches John Tucker dating three different girls at once: Carrie (Arielle Kebbel), the smart girl; Heather (Ashanti), the head cheerleader; and Beth (Sophia Bush), the vegan activist. None of them are aware that they are not the only girl in John’s heart. Kate was raised by a single mother and has never seen a functional relationship. She has seen the pain caused by playboys like John Tucker, and she won’t stand idly by. Together with the three girlfriends, they hatch a plan to teach John a lesson. Of course, things rarely go as planned, especially when Kate starts to think she might be falling for John herself.

Just based on the description there, you can probably figure out the entire story this movie has to offer. It wasn’t all that innovative a movie. It didn’t even present the same old thing in a new or interesting way. There are still social cliques and cheerleaders, there are still horny teenage boys bent on losing their virginity, social outcasts who fall in love with the jock, and the token black guy who stays out of every conversation, smiles, and interjects with colloquialisms that perpetuate racial stereotypes.

I have to admit, I did find a few parts of the movie funny. It is intended to be a comedy, after all. One of the funnier scenes early on is when the girls switch out John Tucker’s muscle building supplements with estrogen supplements. This causes the manly basketball team captain to have an emotional breakdown and start crying when the coach is barking orders during a big game. This was funny in spite of perpetuating gender roles and stereotyping. And just like all the other stunts the girls try to pull off, it backfires by having girls flocking to John Tucker because he’s a man that can show his sensitive side. Most of the humor is like this; pretty shallow, unbelievable, and gives an unrealistic view of human behavior. I can forgive it because it’s supposed to be a comedy, but it is still hard to accept scenarios like these. You might chuckle a few times if at all.

Lame as the story and script is, I have to give respect to the actors. Their performance seemed loose and relaxed. When they are trying to act casual, they actually appear to act casual. They don’t have a forced presentation, nor were they yelling their lines into the camera so they can be heard over all the chatter and texting the teenage audience will inevitably be participating in during the movie.

Brittany Snow also played Amber Von Tussle in the 2007 Hairspray movie. She looks really pretty in both Hairspray and John Tucker Must Die. I don’t understand why pretty and attractive people are frequently cast as the socially awkward and outcast roles. Inevitably they will have this profound moment of awakening and transform themselves from being nerdy and un-cool to being confident, attractive, and on top of the social scene. Newsflash to any high-school-aged readers; THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN IN REAL LIFE! Sorry you had to learn that this way, but these stupid teen movies really give us an unrealistic view of high school and of life. At any rate, pretty and attractive as Brittany Snow is as Kate, I have a hard time imagining her ever being unaccepted or being in need of a date.

John Tucker Must Die is a classic example of a light-hearted teen movie, but it wasn’t really a terrible teen movie. It’s not as mean as Mean Girls, not as crude or raunchy as American Pie, and not as cheesy as something like A Walk to Remember. I had a few chuckles and the acting was a bit better than most teen movies. I suppose it’s a subpar movie, but an above average teen movie. If you have graduated from high school long enough to have experience in the real world, you’ll find the unrealistic depiction of high school to be quaint and silly. You might find something to laugh at if you’ve ever had a two-timing relationship partner. I wouldn’t recommend going out of your way to see this unless you really like silly teen movies.

What’s your favorite teen/high school movie? Am I missing out on any good ones? Comment below and tell me all about it!

Hairspray Movie Review

I’ve heard that Hollywood musicals are making a comeback, but the only recent Hollywood musicals that I can think of are Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008) and Across the Universe (2007). The other musicals that have hit theaters are movie versions of Broadway musicals; not true Hollywood musicals. Hairspray (2007), directed by Adam Shankman, is based off of a Broadway musical, which itself was based off of a non-musical movie by John Waters. This third telling of the story is teeming with energy and fun.

In 1962 Maryland, Tracy Turnblad (Nikki Blonsky) is brimming with joy as she wakes up for school, singing “Good morning, Baltimore!” Tracy is an overweight teenager who knows all the latest dance moves. She and her friend Penny Pingleton (Amanda Bynes) live for the moment when school lets out to race home and watch “The Corny Collins” show, the local teenage TV dance show, with their favorite dancer Link Larkin (Zac Efron). Tracy’s mother, Edna (John Travolta), doesn’t approve of the show. But when tryouts for the show are announced, Tracy’s father, Wilbur (Christopher Walken), tells her to go for it and reach for the stars. Initially turned down by the TV station’s racist manager, Velma Von Tussle (Michelle Pfeiffer) and her daughter Amber Von Tussle (Brittany Snow), Tracy’s dance moves later catch the eye of both Link Larkin and Corny Collins (James Marsden). When Tracy makes it onto the show, she begins a crusade to end the show’s “Negro Day,” hosted by Motormouth Maybelle (Queen Latifah), and fully integrate the show with black and white dancers. The Von Tussels fight tooth and manicured nail to keep the show a “whites only” program. Equal rights, gaining self-respect, social change, and overcoming racism and bigotry are all tackled with catchy musical numbers and energetic dancing.

This is Nikky Blonsky’s very first movie. In fact, she went from working at a Cold Stone Creamery ice cream store to starring in a major motion picture with big name actors. She does a fantastic job for her first role. Hairspray is a deliriously fun, happy, and energetic movie, primarily because Nikky Blonsky was at the heart of the film. She’s positively adorable, and exudes happiness and joy throughout the film. You can’t help but get swept up in her optimism and smile along with her. No wonder Link fell head over heels for her.

The all star cast was fantastic, but John Travolta was particularly interesting. Holding true to tradition, Edna Turnblad is played by a man. It was unexpected to see the masculine Travolta playing a woman, particularly a heavy set one. He even manages sound like a woman when he speaks. Edna is an insecure woman who is hasn’t left the house in years because she is self-conscious about her weight, but she has a big heart and is every bit as endearing as Tracy. I don’t see many John Travolta films, but this seems to be a very counter typecast role for him, and he does a great job. I have to praise the costume designers, too. Travolta’s hourglass-like fat suit was pretty convincing.

The art direction was fantastic. The set designs were amazing; they really pulled off the feel of the early 1960’s. This was before The Beatles, Vietnam, and the hippie movement, so most things looked clean and sensational; a lot like they were in the 1950’s. Clothing, color schemes, hair styles, cars, even large outdoor sets really made it feel like we are stepping back in time. Everything was stylized with lots of glitz and glamour, just like many graphic designs were in the early 60’s. Television was influential in that decade and was often visible in the background or was the focal point transitioning between scenes in this movie.

Lastly, the music in this movie was enjoyable. The opening number really draws you in and then doesn’t let go. All of the songs are engaging, the upbeat songs, slow songs, exciting songs, and romantic songs; all of them are memorable and fun. In many musicals there are story and character development interrupted by everyone bursting into song and dance. This is highly unrealistic, by any stretch of the imagination. But in the context of Hairspray, it seems much more natural since music and dance are major components to the plot and characters. I’ve seen some musicals where the songs are so similar to each other in terms of tempo, beat, and rhythm that it seems like you’re listening to the same song for two hours. Not so with Hairspray. The songs remain diverse and fun. The music doesn’t really let you go until after the grand finale. Even then, you’re still so engaged that you want to listen to the songs during the closing credits.

I love Hairspray! It’s so much fun to watch! It has good characters, great actors, fun songs, great art direction, clever humor, and a good story about overcoming discrimination in terms of race and appearance. Hairspray is a good selection for a family movie night; I think it’s worth owning. I have a copy of Hairspray on Blu-Ray on my movie shelf. I pull it out to watch after a rough day and I feel much better afterwards. You can’t help but feel happy watching it.