After a seven year break from filmmaking following the 1981 release of Polyester, Baltimore's John Waters returned to directing films and made what would be his first shot at 'the mainstream.' This picture, 1988's Hairspray, would also be the last film he'd make for New Line for a decade. The film would also be a historic moment in his career as it would make the first time one of his films would be shown with a PG rating. While this film has Waters' stamp all over it, gone is the intentionally offensive and challenging humor of his earlier pictures but even with that large part of his ‘tone' neutered, the film still works incredibly well. Call it a maturity on the part of the director if you want, but even more than twenty years since it hit theaters, this one remains a whole lot of good hearted fun.

The movie is in the early 1960s and follows the exploits of a teenage girl named Tracey Turnblad (Riki Lake). She's a slightly overweight girl who lives at home with her parents, Wilber and Edna (Jerry Stiller and Divine), where she dreams of one thing and one thing only: appearing on The Corny Collins Show, hosted by, yep, Corny Collins (Shawn Thompson). This is sort of local version of American Bandstand, and she'd love to make it on there where she'd dance on television for all the world to see. Her best friend, Penny (Leslie Anne Powers), comes from a racist family that doesn't like blacks, and this leads to some trouble for Tracy and Penny when her mother finds her dancing with a few of the local black boys. This doesn't stop Penny for falling for a black boy named Seaweed (Clayton Prince), however.

Eventually Tracy gets a shot at trying out for the show but she's up against Amber Van Tussle (Colleen Fitzpatrick) who is just as good on her feet and not as thick in the waist. Her parents, Franklin and Velma (Sonny Bono and Debbie Harry), are also willing to help their daughter with whatever means may be necessary. When Tracy finds out that she can make a difference by protesting the segregation that The Corny Collins Show enforces, things get complicated.

While Hairspray, as mentioned, sees Waters playing a in PG rated sandbox, his stamp is still all over the picture. Divine is back in this one with a dual role, and it'd be the last time she'd work with Waters as later that year she died in her sleep. The films introduced Ricki Lake to the world and (say what you will about her talk show or some of her later appearances) she's great in the lead, putting a whole lot of infectious charisma into her role. When you figure that the basic plot of the movie is that an overweight girl wants to get out there and dance for the world, it takes a certain amount of confidence, screen presence and just plain likability to sell it, but that's exactly what Lake does and she's completely charming and adorable here.

While the shock value of Waters' early movies is almost completely gone from this (more or less) family friendly film, his wit and knowing winks to the audience are still there and the humor remains clever and amusing. He does deal with racial issues throughout the movie in interesting ways and there's one slightly gross moment where skin care treatments are involved but it's nothing compared to what he'd depict in movies like Pink Flamingos. However that wit, that sense of the bizarre and the weird, it's still here and it's still a very important part of what makes this movie work as well as it does. His love of oddball pop culture and music also plays a huge part in the look and the sound of the film, particularly in regards to the costumes and the soundtrack put together for the film.

Considerably more polished than anything that Waters had done up to this point in his career, Hairspray, interestingly enough, remains his most successful film. While some of us started to miss his earlier work as he softened up for a while (he definitely made a return to raunchy form with the NC-17 rated A Dirty Shame), there's no denying that this is a well-made film with a big heart and a true sense of fun. The movie is filled with some fantastic performances from Divine and Lake, both of whom are a joy to watch. Sonny Bono, Debbie Harry and Jerry Stiller are all great in their respective supporting roles, along with Mink Stole. We even get some fun cameos from the director himself as well as Ric Ocasek and Pia Zadora as a pair of groovy beatniks that try to convince Tracy to do something about her uncool hair!

Video:

Hairspray arrives on Blu-ray in AVC encoded 1080p high definition framed at 1.78.1 widescreen and it looks very nice indeed. There's a natural amount of film grain present throughout the picture, it hasn't been scrubbed away in a flurry or noise reduction or anything, but there isn't really much in the way of actual print damage to note at all. The film's bright and sometimes garish color scheme is replicated pretty much perfectly here, the costumes really pop at times, while skin tones look lifelike and natural. Detail is noticeably improved over the DVD release not just in close up shots, where you'll notice the pores on the faces of different characters as well as lines where the makeup starts and stops, but in medium and long distance shots too. The make out session that takes place in the back alley? You can note some of the dirt and grim on the walls and pick out detail on the litter scattered on the ground that would have been tough to make out before. There are no compression issues of note and there are no problems with edge enhancement, ringing or aliasing. There is a bit of noise present in a few shots but outside of that, all in all, this is a really nice transfer.