Film Preview: Hairspray (2007)

Trailers (Due to age, may no longer be available)

Posters (Due to age, may no longer be available)

Poster Rating: B+; C-

Review: This poster, without being gaudy, takes a new approach to the teaser. If you know who’s in the film, you can easily put faces to the hair. The colors are nice except when blended in the rainbow of the title and the hair isn’t nearly as big as it or the title suggest could be.

Although the second poster reveals who’s behind the hairdos of the first, it’s quite a bit more insulting to the young stars of the film. Nikki Blonsky is the star, but she has the seventh smallest image on the poster. Sure they want to draw audiences in with the images of John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Queen Latifah and Christopher Walken, but they shouldn’t take visual precedence over the film’s actual star.

Trailer Rating: C-

Review: The trailer, on the hand, is aysmal. It gives away a significant portion of the plot, spends too much time on Pfeiffer and Latifah, and too little time (and I’m shocked I’m saying this) on Travolta. The selling point isn’t the musical, which the worst music from the show is highlighted in the preview, but the chance to see Travolta in drag like Harvey Fierstein and Divine before him.

Oscar Prospects:

The promotional design looks a bit too much like the one for Dreamgirls and

the early release isn’t likely to endear it to Oscar voters who like their razzle dazzle in the fall, but I can see why they would want to steer clear of the more dangerous musical of this Oscar season.

Release Date:

July 20, 2007

Synopsis:

After being underwhelmed by the trailer, I was surprised to find out at how much I enjoyed the film, especially the music, which in context and with dancing succeeds.