Posted: 12/27/2006

Dreamgirls

(2006)

by Hank Yuloff

‘Twas the 25th of December and all through the mall,
Ran hundreds of celebrants, fresh from opening their haul.
What movie would they chose to grab relatives and go?
Clearly it was Dreamgirls and I ended up in the last row.

Well heck, I am not really a poet - which is why I write reviews and not screenplays. But on Christmas, I found myself in the very last row, in the very last seat, in the corner, in the dark, to see the Bill Condon (Kinsey) directed film that had been hyped for months as the Movie of the Year. “A Triumph” I believe was the phrase they were using in the ads.

With that much hype, I found myself excited. Probably too excited. This is the story of a 1960s girl group who catch a break and make it to the top. Dreamgirls also shows the bumps and bruises they get while getting there. I enjoyed the movie, but did not love the movie. The ads said 4 or 5 publications had this on their top 10 of the year. Not for me. Maybe honorable mention. But not top 10.

There are several things to recommend about this film version of the Broadway musical. For one thing, the voices are spectacular. The Dreams are made up of Beyonce Knowles (The Fighting Temptations), Anika Noni Rose (From Justin to Kelly) and Jennifer Hudson (American Idol). Because of personality problems, Hudson is later replaced by Sharon Leal. The girls sing several songs and are spot on perfect (thanks to the editing—which seems pretty obvious) but I knew going in that would be the case. Knowles has an established singing career and Hudson was a top 10 finalist on Idol. I also knew Sharon Leal could sing from the few times they gave her a chance to perform on Boston Public.

Eddie Murphy (Dr. Dolittle) is also excellent as James ‘Thunder’ Early, a James Brown type singer who the girls sing back up for prior to setting out on their own. Though he constantly refers to himself in the third person, he is very restrained from the normal Eddie personality. Jamie Foxx (Ray) is also good as Curtis Taylor Jr., the man with a dream who goes from selling Cadillacs to selling the Dreams.

When I watch a musical, one of the things I listen for, frankly, is audience applause. When you see a play it is customary to clap when you enjoy a number and for some reasons, audiences do it during the movie versions, too. It helps me gauge the “buy in.” They applauded after every song in Phantom of the Opera. In Chicago, I thought the audience was going to give a standing ovation. So as one barometer, the only song that got a strong applause during Dreamgirls was “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going,” sung by Jennifer Hudson, who is by far the best actress and singer of the bunch.

Dreamgirls is a nice film, but in this case, I think I would rather see the stage production, than a one of the performances that is filmed.

Hank Yuloff is a film critic living in Los Angeles.

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