Hairspray
Directed by John Waters
It's Baltimore, 1962, and rebellious teenager Tracy Turnblad (Lake) attempts to win the coveted 'Miss Auto Show' crown as she fights against racial discrimination. Written and directed by John Waters (Polyester, Serial Mom) and featuring rock legends Sonny Bono and Deborah Harry as the pushy parents of Tracy's rival.
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Hairspray Ratings & Reviews
- erikremAugust 24, 2025John. Waters.
- stuhannafordFebruary 25, 2026The very definition of a Marmite movie. If you like revisiting injustices of old from a modern perspective, and signalling your virtue, without actually doing anything to address such inequalities, this may well be for you. I on the other hand, hated it. What feels initially like a Poundland Grease, quickly evolves into a superficial caricature of American racial history. That may well be the point, but there is nothing entertaining nor enlightening about it. The 'bad guys' are so horribly awful in appearance, language and character to hammer points home, it seems beyond lazy. And of course, the 'good guys' are immune from all forms of finger pointing as they are the righteous ones... spitting clearly being acceptable in the name of the virtuous, and applauded. The irony of it all is that the very communities that are being highlighted as oppressed, and with good reason for the story's time period, are 'saved' by the liberal white folk... presumably as the writers pushing their ideologies didn't feel that the oppressed could actually succeed without the enlightened elements of the oppressors... sound familiar? Oh, and the oppressed that are being fought for? Yeah, not an enormous amount of character building or a chance to shine as, well, that's not so important... as long as our 'hero' gets the throne and crown they deserve. Hollywood virtue signalling at its finest. Ignore the politics, and it's simply dull, boring and not humorous at all.
- Mister ArnMay 22, 2025A campy message movie about acceptance with lots of unlikable characters, just to prove the point.
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Hairspray Trivia
Hairspray was released on February 26, 1988.
Hairspray was directed by John Waters.
Hairspray has a runtime of 1h 32m.
Hairspray was produced by Rachel Talalay.
It's Baltimore, 1962, and rebellious teenager Tracy Turnblad (Lake) attempts to win the coveted 'Miss Auto Show' crown as she fights against racial discrimination. Written and directed by John Waters (Polyester, Serial Mom) and featuring rock legends Sonny Bono and Deborah Harry as the pushy parents of Tracy's rival.
The key characters in Hairspray are Tracy Turnblad (Ricki Lake), Edna Turnblad / Arvin Hodgepile (Divine), Velma Von Tussle (Debbie Harry).
Hairspray is rated PG.
Hairspray is a Drama, Comedy, Musical film.
Hairspray has an audience rating of 8 out of 10.
Hairspray had a budget of $2M.
Hairspray has made $6.7M at the box office.