Travolta Shimmies in Drag; Sandler's `Gay' Wedding: Rick Warner

Bloomberg - USA - John Travolta, who gave us the white-suited disco pose in ``Saturday Night Fever'' and the two- finger peekaboo in ``Pulp Fiction,'' contributes another signature dance move in ``Hairspray.''

As Edna, the corpulent mother of early 1960s Baltimore teenager Tracy Turnblad, Travolta performs an unforgettable shimmy at the end of this joyous remake of John Waters's story about dancing, adolescence and racial tolerance.

Packed in a skin-tight red dress covered with gold spangles, Travolta slaps his side a la Tina Turner and self- mockingly revives the two-finger swipe across his face to the pulsating sound of Marc Shaiman's ``You Can't Stop the Beat.''

Even Dick Cheney would be hard-pressed to sit still during Travolta's infectious boogie.

The scene is a fitting close to Adam Shankman's film about a chubby teen who dreams of dancing on ``The Corny Collins Show,'' a popular local version of ``American Bandstand'' that doesn't allow blacks and whites to mix on the dance floor. After Tracy (ingratiatingly played by newcomer Nikki Blonsky) unexpectedly becomes the show's star, her campaign for integration makes her a hero to some and an outcast to others.

While it lacks the campiness of Waters's 1988 original movie or the punch of the long-running Broadway show, the latest ``Hairspray'' is just as memorable.

Popeye Arms

Shaiman's upbeat score, combined with Shankman's energetic choreography and direction, make the 115 minutes fly. In a summer filled with bloated sequels, ``Hairspray'' provides a helpful Hollywood reminder that shorter is usually better.