Dreamgirls (2006)

After hearing Jane McDonald sing One Night Only and And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going from the musical Dreamgirls I decided I had to watch the movie version next, as it has been sat on my DVD shelves for a while now. I knew One Night Only from somewhere when I heard Jane sing it the other night, though I've no idea where, and I'd heard Mercedes sing the other song with real punch in Glee, but that was the extent of my knowledge about Dreamgirls, other than it was vaguely based on the story of Diana Ross and the Supremes. 

Dreamgirls follows the rise and rise of The Dreams, a motown trio, through their roots in 1960's Detroit to the height of success (which in Hollywood movies always involves a montage with an appearance on Time magazine) in the seventies. Beyoncé (Knowles, to give her her full, actress title) is top billed as Deema, who becomes the lead singer of The Dreams at the expense of Effie, the big lady with the big voice, played by newcomer Jennifer Hudson. Rounding out the trio (initially) is voice of Tiana in The Princess and the Frog, Anika Noni Rose, playing the somewhat naive Lorrell. When Effie's divaish behaviour threatens the future of the group, Jamie Foxx's Curtis, their manager, sacks her and replaces her. The movie then follows The Dreams' rise as Effie becomes a mother and eventually finds her voice and place again, with the help of Danny Glover's not too old for this shit manager. 

This 2 hour movie packs in quite a lot of incident, and spans some key moments in the civil rights movement and black culture/history in sixties and seventies US, and manages to fit in around 30 different songs, including all the hits from the original movie plus about 4 new ones! Sometimes the number of songs felt a bit exhausting, and I think it may have been prudent to have cut out some of the numbers and had more drama. The film didn't suffer for having too many songs, it just could have used them a bit more frugally. The songs are amazing though, and Jennifer Hudson's performance of ...I'm Not Going is a real stand out, there's so much more emotion to the lyrics when the song is put in context as opposed to sung on its own at a concert. Beyoncé's performance of Listen, written for the movie, is another highlight. Other songs were good, but there were so many I can't pick others out. 

The real success story of Dreamgirls is Jennifer Hudson, who should have received her Oscar for Best Actress, not Supporting Actress. She's in the film much more than Beyoncé, who's presence is pretty unexceptional, and Effie has a lot more to do in terms of the plot and the emotional journey her character faces. Eddie Murphy is the other surprise, here playing Jimmy Early, the singer who ends up giving The Dreams their break as his backing singers. He's restrained from his usual madcap self, although there are moments where the comedy genius show through, and they are moments that stay true to the character. 

I'm waiting for the 2-disc soundtrack to appear in the post as I want to revisit the songs, especially those that get cut short in the movie. Dreamgirls is like watching a concert with a movie in the middle of it. The songs work well, and the drama is compelling, yet there's a little something that didn't add up to the some of it's parts. Having said that, I enjoyed it.