REVIEW: Dreamgirls

Dreamgirls makes me feel funny. It does. I finished watching this movie and both loved and hated every moment of its running time. Therefore, it is only fair to simply split this review in two and give you a few reasons why I liked it, and a few why I didn't. Fair? Okay.

I didn't like Dreamgirls because...
The first half of the movie whizzes by at such a ridiculous pace during which we cover the rise of The Dreams, their splintering and finally their fall. During this we witness Martin Luther King Jr., the L.A Riots (seen during a peculiarly calm conversation/song) and pretty much every event of the U.S's turbulent 1960s. They are all just skimmed over in the background as we watch the Dreams sing loudly at each other and Jamie Foxx's bewildered Berry Gordy figure. To say this is a thinly veiled biopic of The Supremes is quite an understatement as the parallels with Diana Ross and Mary Wilson in Jennifer Hudson's character become palpably clear.
The film also has just terrible songs throughout, that simply don't sound like that classic Motown sound but rather like the musical interpretation that they are while Beyonce Knowles is a deeply average actress and is left standing as a singer by Hudson. Eddie Murphy, while excellent, is hamstrung with the most ridiculous frankenstein character seemingly a composite of Sam Cooke, James Brown and, in the film's most sickly moments, Marvin Gaye.

I did like Dreamgirls because...
For all its bad points, its thoroughly entertaining and features a grandstanding performance from Jennifer Hudson. Her singing is just immense, blowing the rest of the cast off the screen while her acting is near flawless, portraying Effie Wilson with the just the right balance of arrogance, humility and righteousness.
For a truly overreaching reason however, I would say you could read the saga of The Dreams as a portrait of a very modern American dream. Young girls come from nowhere, making it on pluck and tenacity. They get their lucky break but greed sours their dream and they fall apart, throwing away their wealth and getting back to their roots.

So there you go, I would say that overall, it wasn't a film I fell for but give it its credit, Hudson is amazing and deserving of your attention.

Film: Dreamgirls
Director: Bill Condon
Plattenspieler Rating: 6.0/10