When I reviewed High Society three years ago, I said that its biggest problem was a lack of subtext to which the central relationships could be anchored. Certainly the campy spirit of the original prevents us from accusing the remake of 'lightening down' the premise or message. But even given its Broadway background, where big emotions and melodramatic storytelling run riot, it is striking to find a mainstream musical this willing to enjoy itself. The original was one of Waters' more mainstream efforts, garnering a PG rating where his previous work had been X-rated almost by default.
HAIRSPRAY 2007 SOUNDTRACK MUSIC REVIEW SERIES
While Chu's films are at their most basic a series of disconnected music videos, Shankman manages to keep his eye on the story even when things are at their most visually flamboyant.įor a story about civil rights and the marginalisation of the Black community in America, Hairspray is surprisingly, perhaps even refreshingly, shiny and light. But more crucially, Shankman understands that there is more going on in a musical number than just the song or dance - and on a wider level, that a musical film has to be more than just a series of said numbers.
The differences between the directors' projects seem obvious even at first glance, with the Step Up films lacking a period setting, political ambitions or sometims even a coherent storyline. Chu, who directed the second and third Step Up films around this time.
His background in choreography would lead us to predict another High Society, namely a musical where the director (whether Shankman or Charles Walters) is far too concerned with giving his actors enough room to dance to worry about the small matter of capturing emotion.Ī more illuminating comparison, however, is with Jon M. Shankman's directorial roster either side of this is, in the words of Mark Kermode, "a load of old poop", containing duds like Cheaper by the Dozen 2, The Pacifier and Rock of Ages. The first of many surprises with Hairspray is the fact that someone as bad as Shankman could have pulled it out of the bag.
But despite the director's lack of pedigree, and less emphasis on politics than fans of the original may like, the end result is a perky, uplifting, thoroughly entertaining romp which makes the most of both its newcomers and established cast. Cult director John Waters' 1988 film was a modest hit, which became a huge, award-winning hit on Broadway, which in turn has now produced this adaptation of the musical helmed by Adam Shankman. This is the fate that befell The Producers, which started as a great Mel Brooks film, then became a very good stage show, and finally ended up a rubbish second film at the hands of first-time director Susan Stroman.Īt first glance, Hairspray should be cause for concern since it follows the same troubled route. On the rare occasions that an attempt is made to re-adapt the adapation back to its first form, the results can be disastrous. It's widely acknowledged that adapting a source from one medium to another may cause many of its most distinctive elements to get lost in translation.
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