Maybe a movie can be comedy, ironic satire, and musical all at once, but it's a tough balancing act to pull off.
For example, the opening song "Baltimore" should be hilarious - - the whole idea of singing in delight of a famously dull city - - but instead drags on too long and can't quite decide whether to be serious about itself. In fact, all the songs last too long. I suppose that speaks to the quality of the song writing ("is the damn thing over yet?").
Or consider the domestic scenes, exaggerated proletarian misery in wildly perky pastels. Is it supposed to be misery? Or Disney Channel comedy? or a mockery of misery? In the end it looks like they wanted to make fun of miserable conditions, while still being nice to them, but also not being too scary for the kids in the audience or offending the sponsors (god forbid the movie should have the ferocity of, ahem, a John Waters film).

Can't review the entire movie because I walked out after about 20 minutes of this idiocy.

The whole family fell asleep watching this one: wife, 3 kids, family dog, me.

We thought it would be fun because we laughed so much when we saw the original (the one with Divine).

And it marks the end of the civil rights era as far as I'm concerned. The issues are presented in such a light-weight, ho-hum, humdrum way, by such light-weight actors, that it's practically a slap in the face to anyone who really cares about civil rights.

I miss Divine.

Bought this for my niece and WE love it! If you loved the original Hairspray, you'll definitely love this remake. The cast is cute, fun to watch.

I ordered the movie for my mom to enjoy on her visit. She is a huge John Travolta and Queen Latifah fan. They did not disappoint. In fact she loves them even more now. The movie is funny, witty, and moving. I think my favorite parts are the beginning, the middle, and the end. And the music is amazing!

This is a great movie and I am happy to have the two disc to see all the extras.