I saw the hype on Oprah about this. It looks like it could be pretty good.
I really like the original and do question a remake as the original is a classic, but the casting looks good (Travolta in Divine's role could be a good move :yes:), IMDB has pretty good reviews, but a lot of them reference the musical, so my guess is someone took it to the stage as a prelude to the remake

I'm interested in how it stacks up against the original one to one; Travolta v. Divine, Pfeiffer v. Harry, Walken v. Stiller, Latifah v. Brown etc, etc. FWIW, the original would be a tough nut to crack and I'm afraid the remake could be maybe a bit too "happy" and miss out on some of Water's points.

Hey!! I just noticed that it looks like they wrote out Sonny's role????

I saw the Hairspray remake last week.Its a much less biting,less satirical film than the original.Edna's(John Travolta) role is much sweeter in this version.Its more breezy,sunny,happy than the first film,but I really,really enjoyed it.The director lets you know in the first minute of the film that he's going to suspend disbelief,and make a straight,burst into song musical.There are still some good Waters type gags,like in the opening number,"Good Morning Baltimore"where shes singing on the street,we see the rats eating crumbs outside the bakery,a drunk in a bar says hi to her before he passes out,and John himself shows up as a flasher.
They turn the whole rascism thing into a kind of sappy routine,but its only a speed bump on the way to more fun,more song and dance.
It was a musical on broadway,BTW,and this is an adaptation of the musical.If you are expecting the original,youll be dissapointed,but if you like old style musicals,this movie is a lot of fun.
Jimmy

Wife and I saw it last week. It was enjoyable. Cute and upbeat. We've seen both the original movie and the musical on Broadway. For my money, Harvey Fierstein is still the ultimate Edna.

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2005/Aug-21-Sun-2005/photos/harvey.jpg


P.S. There's one scene that's a great commentary on the 60s. It shows two pregnant women in a bar, smoking and drinking martinis. Very funny. :D