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What are we supposed to make of "Hairspray"? It's fast and fun, packed with slick dance numbers, a terrific cast and maybe a dozen laugh-out-loud moments.

But it's also shallow and a bit offensive. We'll come back to this.

The movie's heroine is Tracy Turnblad (Nikki Blonsky). Fearless and full-bodied, Tracy loves "The Corny Collins Show," an afternoon dance-off for beboppin' teens.

Tracy and her best friend, Penny, twist in front of the TV every day after school. They dream of one day winning Miss Teen Hairspray.

And, wouldn't you know it, "The Corny Collins Show" is filmed just down the street.

Tracy gets kicked out of a tryout for the show by evil station manager Velma Von Tussle, played by Michelle Pfeiffer. But Tracy's not fazed. Miss Teen Hairspray is her destiny, and after serving detention with a group of black students who teach her some groovy dance moves, she finds herself starring on the show.

This is all set against the backdrop of 1962 Baltimore. Tracy joins the ranks of the black people in the community fighting to integrate "The Corny Collins Show," which once a month celebrated "Negro Day," until it was canceled by Von Tussle.

The cancellation isn't fair, partly because it smacks of racism, but mostly because the black dancers are much better than the white dancers. This difference is most glaring during "The New Girl in Town," when some white girls take turns dancing against three black girls. The white girls get served.

This is where the movie chokes. The messages are terrific: Look at the good inside a person; fun transcends looks or skin color. But sugarcoating doesn't get more blatant.

Sixties-era Baltimore was not a doo-wopping good time for black people. "Hairspray" makes things too simple. Every character is either an inoffensive black person, a cool friend to the inoffensive black people or a stupid, evil racist. (Queen Latifah has never been more pretentious, and Queen Latifah is always pretentious.)

But you can't keep your toe from tapping. There's too much energy to the whole production. And the film really comes to life when Christopher Walken and John Travolta share the screen as loving parents to Tracy. They're a riot, even though Travolta makes for a hideous woman - all cankles and fake triple-E's.

Call it a frustrating good time.

If "Hairspray" had taken its subject matter more seriously, it could have been special. Instead, it's dumb fun.