“You really have to see John Travolta to believe him, especially toward the end of Hairspray when he finally lets loose — dressed in a fat suit as a woman in a red tutu and high heels — and dances up a storm in the film’s finale,” writes Fox 411’s Roger Friedman.
“I don’t know if it’s an Oscar performance, but I do know that when Hairspray is shown in big theaters (I saw it in a screening room, still a little unfinished), audiences are going to go wild with cheers and whistles. Travolta even signals the audience with his now-trademark ‘cat eye’ from Pulp Fiction as he launches like a spinning top onto the stage of the fictional Corny Collins Show. You can only love it. Somehow he brings that old Travolta warmth and charisma to a crazy costume.”