Hairspray

Quote of the day:
“Trying to determine what is going on in the world by reading newspapers is like trying to tell the time by watching the second hand of a clock.”
--Ben Hecht

We began to watch “Hairspray” with a bit of trepidation. With a few exceptions, we’re not big fans of musicals. To us, movie musicals are too often cloyingly earnest or incoherently and unentertainingly “cutting edge.”

It turns out “Hairspray” is neither of these things. A good indicator is Christopher Walken.

While I very much like Walken, he has been in so many weird roles that he often steps into a caricature of himself. But not here. He is both immensely silly and believable--if that makes any sense. We actually smiled when he broke into a dance number.

This is the feel of the whole film. There’s a certain built-in ridiculousness that is so pitch-perfect that it really won us over.

It turns out the movie’s subject is very serious. The setting is de facto segregated 1960s Baltimore.

The film is so good-natured and so much fun that it’s hard to fathom how its theme could be prejudice against difference. But this seeming incompatibility is what makes it work.

In addition to enjoying the film MUCH more than I ever expected, I found myself thinking back on my life in 1960s Baltimore. And I though about how far we’ve come and haven’t come.

John Travolta’s good, too.