Dreamgirls (2006)

The greatest movie ever!

Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Maybe I am a sucker. For all the impressive sets, the magnificent costume design, the catchy songs, the accomplished choreography, the mesmerizing glitz and glamour of the Hollywood stage performances. Maybe I need to see the Broadway musical. Then again, Broadway musicals are nearly always better; it is the original! Maybe I need to get to know my Motown better. I appreciate my soulful tunes from the 60s and 70s, but am admittedly not a sophisticated listener to the genre. Maybe I am supposed to want an intricate plot executed beautifully, rather than a basic story that serves as the vessel to provide the audience with moving performances and songs. Fair enough, this was no "Chicago"; the balance and pacing could use some editing and I definitely would not recommend this to anyone looking for the magnificently story, but it was definitely better than many of the critics out there are saying. Commendable performances by everyone on the cast. Beyoncé Knowles is Deena Jones, the lead singer for The Dreamettes now The Dreams, Anika Noni Rose as Lorrell Robinson, Sharon Leal plays Michelle Morris, Danny Glover makes an appearance as Marty Madison. Jamie Foxx as the all business before family vilified manager and owner for Rainbow Records, Curtis Taylor. I was notably impressed by Eddie Murphy's performance as music legend and womanizer James Early, especially to see him sing like that! I also really liked lesser known actor Keith Robinson, who plays C C White, songwriting older brother to Effie White. Which brings us to the star of this film. She may not be the star of Curtis Taylor's The Dreams, but she damn sure takes the show anyways. In her Hollywood debut, (Season 3 American Idol seventh place finalist) Jennifer Hudson makes her stage presence known in a dazzling way, winning an Academy Award for Best supporting actress. Well deserved for her singing, in my opinion, but not quite so sure on the acting alone. Maybe I am a sucker for the formulaic lights and special effects. Or maybe I simply know how to appreciate a good voice, soulful performances, emphatic performances, and an entertaining musical.

There was a lot of buzz surrounding Dreamgirls and it looked like a very appealing movie. After 20 minutes I was dismayed at how overrated the movie was. It just was not my cup of tea. I could not go any further as I had lost all interest in Dreamgirls and decided to skip the remainder of the movie.The cast looked really good on paper with Jennifer Hudson, Beyoncé Knowles, Jamie Foxx and Eddie Murphy who earned himself an Academy Award nomination. Maybe if I sat down and saw the movie again someday I will change my tune but until then I felt like I was not interested in this movie.Sorry to all you fans out there, but I thought Dreamgirls was boring and was nothing special.2/10.

In many ways I wish more time had been written over the story (it is a bit like a trailing story rolling through the lives of these 3/4 female singers). Also, the way the words of the songs they performed reflected so closely the situation in the film made it a bit cheesy and there was a period in the middle where there were just too many songs sung about what was happening, such that I was about to stop watching. In some ways I wish this had been done with similar songs, but not as a musical.The singing doesn't really reflect the period (more like beyoncé style ballads) however, this film has a lot of positive aspects..I absolutely hate Eddy Murphy and actively avoid all films he is in, but on this occasion I felt he was very good and filled the role perfectly. Jennifer Hudson is one of my favourite actresses, and she didn't disappoint, and she sung some stunning songs. Indeed, you really get your money's worth when it comes to the number of songs, and despite not having the most profound lyrics, some are very touching and make up for the weak depth of the story (and this weird superficial reference to the civil rights movement and I think Vietnam, but it never really became part of the film).It is maybe targeted at 18-25 year old women, especially beyoncé fans, who will love this film. As a 42 year old man, despite being bored in parts, and despite the above criticisms, and despite the fact that I will forget the film by tomorrow, at the end I can say I thoroughly enjoyed watching it and it was a real Saturday afternoon pleasure. You don't have to think, the women are beautiful, some nice songs, and it did make me cry at the end.

Curtis Taylor Jr. (Jamie Foxx) is a hustler car salesman who weasel his way into managing the naive Dreamettes; Deena Jones (Beyoncé Knowles), Effie White (Jennifer Hudson), and Lorrell Robinson (Anika Noni Rose). They start singing backup for James 'Thunder' Early (Eddie Murphy) who is a womanizing James Brown type. Then Curtis schemes and hustle his way into a record empire.The production feels very Broadway. The songs are not always good. The best thing in the movie is the performance of Jennifer Hudson as the brassy Effie White. Eddie Murphy does good dramatic work in support. Without the break out performance of Hudson, this is just a show tune Broadway show with big singing voices. She puts in a powerful performance, and it would have been great to see an Effie White movie.