Hairspray
New Line Cinema | Release Date: July 20, 2007 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
81
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 37 Critic Reviews
Positive:
36
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Chicago ReaderAlbert Williams
With its wisecracking screenplay, period-perfect pop score, and Shankman's splashy choreography, this may be the funniest, dancingest screen musical since "Singin' in the Rain." Read full review
100
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
A great big sloppy kiss of entertainment for audiences weary of explosions, CGI effects and sequels, sequels, sequels. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Movie magic. Read full review
100
New York PostLou Lumenick
The best and most entertaining movie adaptation of a stage musical so far this century - and yes, I’m including the Oscar-winning "Chicago." Read full review
100
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
A feel-good musical that, for a change, actually makes you feel good. Read full review
100
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
In its entirety, Hairspray has the funny tilt that only a director-choreographer like Shankman can give to a movie. Read full review
91
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
So good at what it does that it can exhaust you: In the later going, one big number follows on the heels of another so quickly that it feels more like an opera than a regular musical. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
A fizzy and delirious high-camp message-movie musical that may just turn out to be the happiest movie of the summer. Read full review
91
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
Broad and funny, its sensibility is very campy and it's out to be loved by everyone. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy Burr
If you look fast, you'll see Waters himself in a cameo (as a flasher; what else?), proof the new film is in touch with its dyed roots. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
A rocking, rollicking crowd-pleaser. Read full review
88
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
The film's an irresistible time capsule of that Camelot summer, blending girrrrrl power, social consciousness and faux-'60s pop with the fizz of a soda jerk whipping up a root beer float. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter Travers
It's hard to resist the film's exuberance. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Just plain fun. Or maybe not so plain. There's a lot of craft and slyness lurking beneath the circa-1960s goofiness. Read full review
80
VarietyDennis Harvey
It's one of the best Broadway-tuner adaptations in recent years -- yes, arguably even better than those Oscar-winning ones. Read full review
80
EmpireWill Lawrence
Offering plenty of body and a lot of lift, Hairspray gels kitsch styling with show-stopping tunes to mould a memorable musical. Read full review
80
NewsweekDavid Ansen
Shankman and his screenwriter, Leslie Dixon, prove you can make a lightweight Broadway musical into big movie fun. Read full review
80
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
The overall mood of Hairspray is so joyful, so full of unforced enthusiasm, that only the most ferocious cynic could resist it. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesCarina Chocano
What it offers isn't really a nostalgic look at a "more innocent time" so much as a saucy wink at a casually vicious time that is constantly being sold to us as innocent. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleSteve Davis
If ever there were a happy summer movie, it’s Hairspray. But for all its bubbly musical numbers and effervescent good humor, this film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical feels oddly lacquered -- it’s John Waters by way of Disney. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Delivers an even bigger sugar rush than the hit Broadway musical. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Though the film is too slick and heavy-handed in its pro-integration sloganeering, and it's burdened by Travolta's ill-conceived star turn, its infectious high spirits and catchy tunes still pack one hell of a sugar rush. Read full review
75
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
For all the flash and flutter, the movie overall lacks, well, HEFT. Read full review
75
PremiereGlenn Kenny
This Hairspray really is a lot of fun -- colorful, sassy, and brisk. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The film isn't deep or thematically rich or filled with amazing characters. Instead, it's an excursion into song and dance, and works admirably on that level. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
Less polished but more fun than "Dreamgirls." Both are drag revues at heart, one funny, the other serious. I prefer the funny one. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
John Travolta may stand out as a plus-size laundress who is hesitant, drab and retiring, but Hairspray is a consistently flashy, rousing and rambunctious movie spectacle. Read full review
70
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Travolta, looking believably pretty and sweet under layers of fondant Latex, is a wholly different incarnation of Edna. And he's not bad. But that right there is the problem with Hairspray: It's all so "not bad" that it isn't nearly enough, even when Shankman and his cast work hard to send it soaring over the top. Read full review
70
Film ThreatPete Vonder Haar
Hairspray isn’t all that bad, frankly. The songs are catchy, most of the leads are engaging enough (Blonksy and Bynes especially), and there’s just enough low-key subversiveness to keep everything from getting too saccharine. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterMichael Rechtshaffen
John Travolta takes on John Waters in Hairspray, and the result is anything but a drag in this appealingly goofy, all-singing, all-dancing screen adaptation of the Broadway musical based on the 1988 film. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
Adam Shankman's movie of the Broadway Hairspray gets better as it lumbers along, but there’s something garish about its hustle--it’s like an elephant trumpeting in your face. Read full review
70
The New YorkerDavid Denby
The movie version of the hit Broadway musical Hairspray is perfectly pleasant--I smiled to myself all the way through it--but it’s not as exhilarating as the show. Read full review
70
Washington PostPeter Marks
When Hairspray is twisting and shouting and swiveling its hips, you can even dare to believe a great society is waiting in the wings. Read full review
70
SlateDana Stevens
This movie-turned-stage-show-turned-movie-again is intermittently tasty, if a little too frantically eager to please. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoanne Kaufman
In the musical numbers, where by rights Mr. Travolta should shine, he's almost out-danced and certainly out-charmed by Edna's better half, Wilbur (Christopher Walken), who is one of the movie's great assets, an oasis of calm amid the twisting and shouting. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
What completely undermines that appearance is Shankman's chronic inability to shoot the damn scene. His camerawork is so stiff it should be interred in a pine box. Read full review
50
Village VoiceScott Foundas
The movie is visually flat: not pasty and garish in the Waters signature style, but merely serviceable and competent in the worst tradition of Hollywood "professionalism." Read full review
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