Last night we watched Hairspray, an excellent, entertaining movie and I'll give it a 4 on my scale of 1 to 5. I had no idea there were so many big names in it besides the mom of the main character, played by none other than John Travolta, super-sized (and female). In addition, there was Christopher Walken who played JT's character's husband, then Michelle Pfeiffer, who played the "bad guy," perhaps the most beautiful looking bad guy I've ever seen. There was also Amanda Bynes, Zac Efron, and two dads from Seinfield, one who played George Castanza's father and one who played Jerry's father. There was also Queen Latifah, who seems to be in a lot of movies these days. Overall, the acting was fabulous and the characters were well suited.
The movie, adapted from a Broadway play, was in essense a musical set in the sixties, and the underlying message was to accept people based on their inner beauty rather than their physical appearance. I had already figured out that part before seeing the movie, since John Travolta's character played a large woman, mom to another plus-sized lead character, Nikki someone, who incidentally has a remarkable Broadway-type of voice. What was new to me was how the racial biases of the time would be a main plot of the movie as it takes the viewer back to an era when people would actually specify having a "Negro day" on a popular fictitious television show. It really wasn't that long ago that such segregation dominated our country, and movies like this remind us. It's hard to imagine actually having separate buses for blacks or separation of who could dance with whom in public.
Even with this heavy topic, it was covered in a light tone with a happy ending, and everyone becomes integrated into one big happy family, dancing and singing 'til the end. It put a smile on my face the whole night as I was watching it. Lindsey is definitely going to enjoy watching this one tonight.
The movie, adapted from a Broadway play, was in essense a musical set in the sixties, and the underlying message was to accept people based on their inner beauty rather than their physical appearance. I had already figured out that part before seeing the movie, since John Travolta's character played a large woman, mom to another plus-sized lead character, Nikki someone, who incidentally has a remarkable Broadway-type of voice. What was new to me was how the racial biases of the time would be a main plot of the movie as it takes the viewer back to an era when people would actually specify having a "Negro day" on a popular fictitious television show. It really wasn't that long ago that such segregation dominated our country, and movies like this remind us. It's hard to imagine actually having separate buses for blacks or separation of who could dance with whom in public.
Even with this heavy topic, it was covered in a light tone with a happy ending, and everyone becomes integrated into one big happy family, dancing and singing 'til the end. It put a smile on my face the whole night as I was watching it. Lindsey is definitely going to enjoy watching this one tonight.
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