filmland / By Charlie Myers

Hairspray, Larry and Harry

(July 19, 2007) Previews

I suppose the major opening on Friday, July 20, is Hairspray , a film musical based on the successful Broadway musical that was, in turn, based on John Waters’ 1988 campy film comedy of the same name. There is no John Waters in sight here, as the film version is directed by sometime choreographer Adam Shankman ( The Wedding Planner ; Cheaper By the Dozen 2 ) while the story involves a group of teens in early 1960s Baltimore and their involvement with a TV dance show in that city. In addition to a young cast of TV actors that includes Nikki Blonsky, Amanda Bynes, Zac Efron and Brittany Snow, the cast also includes a cross-dressing John Travolta, Christopher Walken, Queen Latifah and Michelle Pfeiffer. My hometown may not be on everyone’s lips, but I’ll always remember old P.S. 38 and I’m looking forward to the opening number, “Good Morning Baltimore.” Rated PG for language, some suggestive content and momentary teen smoking, the latter representing a new category recently added by the MPAA. 117 m. At the Broadway, Mill Creek and the Fortuna.

Hairspray

GALLERY >

The only other local opening is I NowPronounce You Chuck and Larry , featuring Adam Sandler and Kevin James (TV’s The King of Queens ) as two macho Brooklyn firemen who have to pretend to be gay when their scam to get government benefits by claiming to be domestic partners becomes public. I’m guessing this is a comedy, and perhaps I’m supposed to think there is a saving grace here because Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor ( Sideways ) co-wrote the script (with Barry Fanaro). The cast also includes Dan Aykroyd, Steve Buscemi and Jessica Biel (who was very good in The Illusionist ). The film did get an MTV nomination for the Best Summer Movie You Haven’t Seen Yet. Stay tuned for my own personal award. Rated PG-13 for crude sexual content throughout, nudity, language and drug references (re-rated; originally rated R). 150 m. At the Broadway, Mill Creek and the Fortuna.

Reviews

HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX: In the previous film in this series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire , teen hormones reared their playful heads and a significant part of the film dealt with budding romances or nascent flirtations. That aspect of the story has been marginalized in The Order of the Phoenix ; Harry (Daniel Radcliffe, of course, who branched out between films by playing the lead in Equus in a London stage production) has one somewhat lingering kiss with fellow student Cho Chang (Katie Leung, who also appeared in Goblet of Fire ), after which he doesn’t talk to her again. So much for romance amongst budding teen magicians.

This film signals its real intentions in its first scene wherein Dementers attack Harry and Dudley in an underpass during a storm. Harry defeats the Dementers with his Patronus, but this leads to his possible expulsion from Hogwarts for using magic in the presence of a muggle. Thus, Phoenix presents Harry with two major challenges: dealing with the conservative Ministry of Magic, whose members don’t believe there is any threat to Hogwarts or themselves, and the re-emergence of Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes), who threatens not only Hogwarts but Harry’s very identity. Perhaps more than in any previous film in the series to date, Phoenix is Harry’s film. Screenwriter Michael Goldenberg and TV director David Yates, in his first Potter outing, apparently decided that centering the narrative on Harry was one way to handle the longest book in the series (pending the final one), and I believe that it was a good decision, as this is also the shortest film so far and the most focused. Sure, all of the surviving characters fans have grown to love are present, including Harry’s cohorts Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson), but none seem to know how to handle Delores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton, a wonderful addition to the already fine complement of actors), who is sent by the Ministry to take over Hogwarts and bring it in line with the official ideology.

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