I'm a big fan of HAIRSPRAY: THE MOVIE, mostly because of Adam Shankman's surprising direction and energetic choreography, which IMHO is NOT harmed by the editing. There is a focus to what Shankman does with his actors - especially John Travolta's Edna. Though cut from the same cloth as Divine's Edna and Harvey Fierstein's Edna's, this is a character that I actually care for, and the little tentative steps taken out of the apartment during "Welcome to the 60s" clinched Travolta's Edna for me. I'm not a Travolta fan by any means, and my one great acting coach worked with Travolta on TWO OF A KIND and had horror stories to tell about THAT experience, and I went into HAIRSPRAY expecting to be majorly disappointed by his Edna. I can also finally listen to Edna's singing, something I had to skip over every time I listened to the Broadway Cast recording since I cannot tolerate Harvey's singing voice.
That's horse-racing, folks. . .
I still cannot believe that the same director gave us THE PACIFIER (Vin Diesel + a duck + children)!
There are some very clever bits in HAIRSPRAY, many which bring sheer joy to my heart, but even with Travolta's Edna being a feminine creature, I still feel the acting honors go to Nikki, Michelle (who is also as much fun in STARDUST), Christopher Walken, James Marsden, Paul Dooley, Elijah Kelly and Queen Latifah.
Loved HAIRSPRAY on the big screen, and love it on dvd.