Murphy, Rose, Knowles and Hudson ( from left ) . Knowles.________
Last year we got The Producers, Rent and Phantom of the Opera. Hairspray and Sweeney Todd are on tap for '07; right now, we have Dreamgirls in movie theatres and both the Streisand '70s camp musical A Star Is Born and the outrageous oddball Spanish musical 20 Centimeters on DVD. For show-tune queens like myself it's very definitely beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
At the conclusion of my review of this year's other big-screen movie musical, the horribly disappointing Idlewild, I wrote, 'When it comes to musicals I want the whole meal AND the dessert or nothing at all.' With Dreamgirls I get my wish. The movie is tremendously entertaining, moves quickly and has real moments of heat. It's in a league with dozens of other tremendously entertaining, fast-paced musicals with show-stopping moments here and there. And these moments—provided by Jennifer Hudson, Beyoncé Knowles and Eddie Murphy—are going to enter legendary status. But they are just that—moments.
The movie is good and looks good. ( Out director Bill Condon has filmed and designed it in the artificial, eye-popping style of other traditional backstage showbiz musicals like Funny Girl, Gypsy or Sparkle—which also FINALLY arrives on DVD in early January. ) But those musicals were not the Second Coming or the Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread and Dreamgirls isn't either. Chicago and Cabaret it ain't ( and doesn't need to be ) , so don't get all 'sticky moon candy' and wreck it with outside expectations.
Like other backstage properties, Dreamgirls relies on the tried and true rags-to-riches story of an individual or group ( in this case three singers at the dawn of the '60s a la the Supremes ) accompanied by heartbreak, catchy songs, blistering ballads and that old-star sickness. This last strange illness—a sort of self-disgust or malaise mixed with mucho narcissism and usually accompanied by excessive alcohol or drug intake—seems to have afflicted dozens of fictional screen characters ( and plenty of their real-life counterparts as well ) . In this case, it is Knowles—playing Deena, the pretty one with the teeny-tiny voice ( read: Diana Ross ) —who reaches for the liquor bottles after leaving behind the other two and achieving gigantic—but empty—success as a solo artist.
Newcomer and Chicagoan Jennifer Hudson, on the other hand, gets the plum role of Effie White ( read: Florence Ballard ) , the brash, difficult and impossibly talented one who has the weight problem. Anika Noni Rose plays Lorrell ( read: Mary Wilson ) —the also pretty but not terribly distinct third member of the trio who just wants to get along and maybe enjoy a little fling with Eddie Murphy's soul singer James 'Thunder' Early ( read: Otis Wilson, James Brown, etc. ) . For Murphy, this is the best role he's had in years. ( He's this year's Best Supporting Actor Oscar winner, hands down. )
As the picture begins, the trio has been sloughing it out in a world of crappy gigs and dead-end talent contests. However, through backing up the notorious womanizer played by Murphy, they soon begin to find their footing, helped along by tough but outdated manager Marty ( Danny Glover ) . Marty is quickly outwitted by Curtis Taylor, Jr. ( read: Berry Gordy, Jr. ) played by Jamie Foxx. Foxx sees something in the Dreamettes but knows he must win Effie's heart to make his grand scheme take hold. Up to this point, the picture has moved quickly and efficiently through its paces and offered the bonus of an insider's history lesson on the shady music business of the early '60s that spelled gold for smart opportunists like Foxx's character. ( Foxx ends up as the movie's villain, who also suffers from star sickness. )
Then the inevitable heartbreak comes at the midway point after Curtis has replaced Effie as the lead singer with Deena, who is more comely and more palatable to white audiences eager to shake a tail feather to the watered-down versions of the hot 'race records.' Effie also correctly suspects Curtis and Deena are stepping out behind her back and finally Curtis, in a blistering scene, fires the difficult singer. This is the moment everyone has been waiting for—the scene and The Song ( 'And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going' ) that every Dreamgirls fan knows by heart. Hudson handles the movie's Judy-Barbra-Bette-Liza moment with assurance and verve. It's a thrilling performance that erases the ghost of Jennifer Holliday, who won a Tony playing Effie on Broadway. On the stage, Holliday's performance of song could only be followed by an intermission—but what to do in a movie? Though one needs a breather to contemplate the amazing tour de force by Hudson, Condon rushes us into a campy career montage that tracks the superstar rise of the group. Because of its placement, this seemed the movie's only misstep—but again, what to do with such a moment in a movie?
The film does offer Knowles her own showstopper—a new song written for her and she gives it her all—but Hudson easily knocks her off the screen each time she appears. To be fair, the Deena part is much less interesting. The character as written is completely a victim, a bystander to her own fame as well as the machinations of her lover. Conversely, there's no doubting that Effie will have her triumphant return. This revision of the real Supremes story—with Miss Ross' famous iron-willed, diva-like behavior excised and Ballard's tragic decline into alcoholism and poverty replaced by a happy outcome—is actually a very satisfying change. This is a musical after all and Happy Endings, even if they're out of line with the true story, are what the audience ordered.
The best news about Dreamgirls—aside from Hudson and Murphy's performances—is that in making the transition from stage to screen it wasn't wrecked the way Evita, A Chorus Line, The Wiz and many others were. That may seem like puny praise, but it's actually the opposite. There's a lot to be said for a director who understands that a hit show doesn't need much rethinking for the movies. Bill Condon has had the courage to leave the essence of Dreamgirls alone and, in doing so, has made a movie that—unlike all those 'fixed up' stage-to-screen musicals—will continue to satisfy from here on out.
