Hairspray

This is the 2007 movie musical. I have never seen the 1988 movie version, nor have I had the opportunity to see a live performance.

There are very few movie musicals I could watch over and over again (Grease, Mama Mia! and I guess I can put Annie in this category even though I could probably only stand to watch it once per decade). There are even a couple that I thought were pretty good but haven't tried watching repeatedly (Chicago, Moulin Rouge and The Sound of Music--yeah, I know, how did that happen? But I'm not kidding. I'm pretty sure I haven't heard Maria sing since 1982.) Then there are some musicals that are painful to watch even once (Grease 2). Happily, Hairspray does not fall in the painful category. I would say it falls somewhere between Pretty Good and Re-Watchable. I probably won't re-watch it, but neither will I feel compelled to gouge out my eyes (or my ears) if I find myself in a conscripted re-watching in the future.

I did try to determine what it is about a musical that makes it re-watchable for me. I haven't quite decided, although I suspect it is equal parts knowing the songs and liking the songs, on top of all the usual what-makes-me-like-a-movie parts. And honestly I'm not sure why it really matters, because I don't generally try to decipher whether a non-musical movie is re-watchable, but I guess that is just my criteria for whether I like a musical movie.

So, a few notes on casting: John Travolta as Tracy's mom seems like an odd choice, but from what I can gather the role is traditionally played by a man, and knowing that, I can't think of any man who could have done it better. Loved Christopher Walken as Tracy's dad. Funny that Jerry Stiller got to be in both movie versions (though not playing the same character). And somewhat strange (in a creepy way) that I happened to watch two Amanda Bynes movies back-to-back. (And no, it is not due to netflix suggestion, because I picked up She's the Man at the library).

Apparently the 1988 movie version was not a musical. I'm really not especially interested in watching it just to see for myself how it compares. Especially since I can't imagine there is much left after you remove the pizzaz of the musical numbers. What I really want is for someone to tell me if the 1988 movie is way better than the version I watched. So, faithful readers (all two of you!), help me out. Do I need to watch the other Hairspray movie? Even if I already have nearly 200 other movies on my netflix queue?