Hairspray

The original! Excellent movie, great soundtrack, and love how it dealt with both race and body issues in such a comical and lighthearted way. To me, that is the most effective way. And don't bother with the remake, pales in comparison.

Good, silly performances from so many cast members (Divine, Jerry Stiller, Ricky Lake, Deborah Harry, Colleen Ann "Vitamin C" Fitzpatrick, Ruth Brown, Sonny Bono, Jo Ann Havrilla, Leslie Ann Powers, Mink Stole, Josh Charles, Pia Zadora, Ric Ocasek, the director himself and so many more) make this John Waters breakout film so delightful. While many of these performances are at times forgivably unpolished, the absolutely perfectly polished elements of the film are what make this version of the story so strong: very authentic and delightful choreography drive the plot and the pleasure of watching the film, along with playful costuming and hairstyling, and especially the hilarious dialogue from the time period. Edna (Divine)'s lines are particularly spot on for anyone who had a mother in the post WWII era and are delivered with such delightful, empathetic honesty, I swear Edna could have been one of our neighbors when I was a kid in the '60s. The historical references are accurate (if mostly superficial) and the overarching themes of civil rights and interracial relationships (and the ways people responded to it all) while honest and poignant, are presented with laugh-out-loud good natured humor. Many of the delightful elements of this film were lost to or overshadowed by the gloss and star casting of the musical and subsequent film of the musical. Even if these later versions are your favorites, go back to this one for the raw John Waters honesty and good-natured fun.

Classic movie

John Waters did such an amazing job on this film, and although his cameo would be a bit to controversial for Gen Zer's, he is hilarious. Excellent movie

This is the epitome of camp and it’s so much fun. It’s hilarious and the music is great.

I've seen the musical film version, and I love the music and dance. Toussaint McCall's appearance was anachronistic, because his song was only released in 1967, but that's ok. I love the mix of cultures, that's progress.

If you like fun in the sun old time type of movie then this is for you.

This was a very enjoyable movie and one that the kids can watch. "Divine" (may he rest in peace), did a divine job of playing the mother. This I believe, is the only movie in which he did not play the lead character, but instead Ricki Lake did. And, as I understand it, he was not happy about being second, and it actually irritated him, but during filming he grew very fond of Ricki Lake and even asked her to share a pie with him. It showed his wonderful ability for character acting and I loved watching him! Lots of great music and dancing and the story, set back in the early 1960's was silly, which is just the way I like it! And fat girls can dance even better than their skinny counter-parts. It streamed well from Amazon Prime.