Bill Condon's Dreamgirls: Beyonce And Jennifer Hudson Don't Fake Their Way To The Top
Written: Jan 04 '07 (Updated Jan 05 '07)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Bang For The Buck |
 |
|
|
Pros: The music is fantastic
Cons: The storytelling suffers a bit in the second act
The Bottom Line: Dreamgirls is a fantastic way to spend two hours in the movie theater.
|
|
|
| roheblius's Full Review: Dreamgirls |
Imagine Whitney Houston as Deena Jones. How about Lauryn Hill as Deena with Kelly Price as Effie White? Well, ever since David Geffen bought the rights to the theatrical release of the Broadway play of Dreamgirls, there have been several starts and stops on the project. Enter Bill Condon who wrote the screenplay to Chicago. If not for Bill Condon, we might still be searching for someone to play Deena Jones, the Diana Ross-like character played by Beyonce.
Dreamgirls has been described as a loosely based interpretation of the story behind the Supremes and how Barry Gordy from Motown Records commercialized their sound, putting Diana Ross as the lead instead of Florence Ballard who was the lead singer from the groups inception. I'm not sure how loosely based it really is because the similarities are downright scary. The Broadway play, which was the original interpretation, featured Jennifer Holiday as Effie White (the Florence Ballard character) and if not for her being unhappy with the part, the similarities would be more surreal as the original script was to call for White's death (Ballard died in her early 30's while trying to make a comeback). Holiday held out in order to be included in the second act of the show.
Being that Dreamgirls is a movie about the Broadway play, you have to go into the theater understanding that this is no average movie. It's a musical. Conflict will be resolved in song. Once you can grasp that, you'll get into the film. If you can't get over that, you're not going to like it very much. It took me about 20 minutes to not laugh every time the characters busted out into song. Thankfully, the music is fantastic because if it wasn't, no matter how good the acting is, the movie revolves around the music and couldn't be successful if the music wasn't. The music is over the top and loud, but it's expressed so brilliantly by the actors (yes, even Eddie Murphy) that you can't take your eyes off the screen and you're studying every move the actors make.
The cast is perfectly put together. According to lore, Beyonce was the only one who read for Deena Jones. Jennifer Hudson, who is so rough around the edges as Effie White, had to outwork American Idol Season 3 winner Fantasia Barrino for the role. I'd guess that the fact that Hudson was more of the unknown and was called out for her attitude by Simon Cowell on American Idol was in her favor. Jamie Foxx supposedly initially turned down the role of Curtis Taylor Jr. (think Barry Gordy) because of a low money offer, but after he saw the cast round out, he decided to come back for the role. On Inside The Actor's Studio, Eddie Murphy talked about his trepidation for doing the role of Jimmy Early because of money as well, but his career thanks him for taking the role as he's getting more press for this role than anything he's done since The Nutty Professor. Anika Noni Rose rounds out the Supremes, I mean Dreamettes/Dreams with her role as Lorrell Robinson (think Mary Wilson). Danny Glover is fabulous as Marty, Jimmy's old time music manager who can't change with the times and is also unwilling to. Keith Robinson plays C. C., Effie's brother who is Curtis's go to man when it comes to turning around the sound of Jimmy Early and the Dreams. He's a songwriter and he helps Curtis make the music more commercial and appealing to a bigger audience. Usher has said that he was offered the part but couldn't fit the time demands. And in the name of B2K, Omarion was also up for it, but thankfully Robinson got the part. He's very understated in the movie, but his relationship with Effie as brother and sister is a big part of the movie.
Most of the media accolades have been spread towards Jennifer Hudson, especially with this being her rookie role. She does a great job with it and Condon helped her get into the role by having her act like a diva all the time. She also had to gain some weight for the role. Her over expressive singing is the key to most of the scenes she's in. I enjoyed Hudson immensely, but in certain parts of the movie, they tried to hide her, including in the group performance scenes. Let's just say that Beyonce can out perform Jennifer by a ton and has a much more stage presence. But she has been doing it for far longer.
Beyonce herself isn't the soul of the movie. That's Hudson's Effie White. But she is the heart. Deena Jones and her rise to stardom (as well as how Curtis got here there) and eventual downfall of the group is really what the movie is about. Beyonce has said in the past that she was told to tone down her singing for the part. It helps that she doesn't belt out every tune with the same expressiveness that Hudson does or else it wouldn't be believable when Taylor tells Deena that the only reason she became the front woman is because she was easier on the eyes. Later in the film, Beyonce gets to show off more of her acting trying to separate herself from the domineering Taylor. It's at this stage that she makes full transformation into Diana Ross and this wasn't subtle. You'll see pictures of her where she looks very much like Miss Ross did. There's also a slight parallel of the Deena Jones character and how she gets her independence compared to Beyonce's real story of trying to find her own independence in her adult music career. I'm sure that part drew her to the role as well.
If Beyonce is the heart and Hudson is the soul, then Jamie Foxx is the backbone. Being that there are newcomers in two of the meaty parts, Foxx holds it together simply because the man can act. When you have Danny Glover on stage, just his mere presence drowns out nearly everyone, except Jamie Foxx. Foxx is now more actor than comic even though he still acts the fool all the time in the press. He's the one person that carries this film during the parts where the singing isn't the focus. And let's not forget the man's voice. He can sing as well and does so, but that's not the focus of his role. The story works because he's given a reason to be the domineering, suffocating person that he is. Early on while helping Jimmy Early get on the pop charts, a group steals the song and makes it a hit, thus making Taylor upset about how unfair the music industry can be. Every thing that he does based off of this (payola, stealing music himself) is done with this in the back of his mind.
Eddie Murphy's Jimmy "Thunder" Early is Little Richard, James Brown, and Jackie Wilson thrown into a blender for most of the movie. Later in the film, he morphs directly into Marvin Gaye as the hypocritical singer who can perform songs about togetherness and cures for the world ills, and then puts white powder up his nose at the same time. Murphy is great in the role and he doesn't seem out of place at all during the singing and dancing parts. In fact, all those mimics of Little Richard and James Brown from the Saturday Night Live and stand-up days are really the basis of his character.
The first half of the movie tells most of the story. The second half, not so much. I'm not going to fault the direction of the movie so much because the Broadway version is similar. There's so much that goes into introducing the characters and the conflict, that the actual last half of the movie and eventual resolution of it moves way too fast. If you can find fault with the storytelling of the first half of the movie, it's that it tells too much, in too much detail. In the second half, it's just the opposite. It's not a great balance, but like I said, it's similar to how the Broadway version is, so you can't really find fault with the movie. There are a few differences in the way the story is told though. The film version is based in Detroit to make the similarities to Motown even more so. Also, Curtis Taylor Jr.'s transition into Barry Gordy is overstated in this film compared to the Broadway version. He's given an empire of musical acts in the movie and he's also given a little Michael Jackson. That's not the case in the Broadway version. One thing that's been complained about is that the music isn't "Motown" enough. Well, it is a screen version of a Broadway play. It's music that's true to the Broadway play.
If you like musicals, this is right up your alley. Even if you don't, but you can stomach all the music, you'll see a really good story with some solid acting and emotional singing. Dreamgirls is a really enjoyable 2 hours and will be far better on the big screen than on DVD.
4.5 stars
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
roheblius
|
 in Music |
 - Top 500 |
|
Member: Garrett M. Gonzales
Location: Gilroy, CA
Reviews written: 598
Trusted by: 278 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.