AK's Movie Reviews: Dreamgirls

I've never seen the stage musical of Dreamgirls but upon seeing the motion picture adaptation my belief is that putting this story onto film adds very little to the material other than some big name movie stars. The film plays like a slightly more produced piece of theater. Everything seems more or less contained within sound stages. There is little use of filmic techniques that make Dreamgirls seem like anything more than a filmed play.

The story, a loosely (and VERY loosely at that) veiled depiction of Diana Ross and the Supremes tells the story of a female singing trio known as the Dreamettes. They consist of Effie White (Jennifer Hudson), a fiery, buxom singer with a booming voice and an abrasive attitude. Deena Jones (Beyonce Knowles) is a tall, skinny, attractive woman who the manager of the Dreamettes sees as a better leader of the group due to her looks. Anika Noni Rose plays Lorrell Robinson, the quieter yet humorous woman who rounds out the trio.

The basic story of the Supremes is there; talented singer is replaced by a more marketable leading lady and the group goes on to huge success. What's gone from the story is any slight element of tragedy. Dreamgirls aims for a beautiful package with little room any of the real human elements (the fact that one of the Supremes died in poverty and that Diana Ross turned into one of the most unstable people in music isn't even touched upon).

The Dreamettes catch a break by earning a job as backup singers for James "Thunder" Early, in a very good performance by Eddie Murphy. Murphy's character is very reminiscent of James Brown both in singing style and dance moves. He is a womanizer and a substance abuser but the film only kind of touches on those elements. It's impressive that Murphy, who has spent his entire film career in comedic performances is able to break out of his shell and not only display his singing and dancing talents but his incredible charisma.

One of the main problems with Dreamgirls is that everything happens so fast. These characters are given little to no backstory. The film starts with the Dreamettes at a live performance, becoming backup singers to James Early and branching out almost immediately to have their own success. All of this material is handled at a frenetic pace (all of those plot elements unfold in roughly a half hour). There is no backstory to any of the ladies, no story of how they met or developed as a group and not much character development of any kind. The film is in such a hurry to get to the musical numbers that it puts basic storyline developments on the backburner.

The Dreamettes are managed by Curtis Taylor Jr.(Jamie Foxx) a character who should be the ultimate show business sleaze bag but comes across as kind of soft. Foxx can be a very bold, robust actor (look at his performance as Ray Charles for proof) but here he seems soft spoken, uncomfortable and quite frankly weak. I could almost envision him trading places with Eddie Murphy who could have given Taylor the robust flair the character needed.

The essential show business cliches unfold. The plain looking Effie is replaced by the good looking Deena (a development furthered by Curtis Taylor switching affairs from Effie to Deena), leaving the group and struggling to make it on her own while the Dreamettes replace her and become even more successful. There are some excellent song and dance numbers but there's a problem with them. I've often had a problem with musical in which characters randomly burst into song because it makes it very difficult to take situations seriously when you have people suddenly belting out full blown production numbers. Dreamgirls contains some musical numbers that take place on stage (logical, because it's about a musical group) but others where characters just suddenly burst into song. It creates an uneven balance in tone shifting between reality and fantasy with no fluidity.

Jennifer Hudson must be commended for her work as Effie. She is a strong screen presence despite never having acted before and some of her vocal performances absolutely steal the film. She has an amazing voice with an incredible range and she can deliver emotions through song. One musical number in which she expresses her heartbreak toward Curtis Taylor drew applause from the entire audience in the theater and I was even attempted to join in but realized that it violates my rule about clapping during films (if they can't hear me, I'm not clapping).

The film ends with conflicts resolved, happy reunions and a stirring, feel good musical number to end the film. Eddie Murphy's character, one of the more interesting in the film is a very intriguing one but he comes and goes so fast that his character is almost an afterthought. Give me a film focusing more on Effie and James Early and you've got a much more interesting movie.

Dreamgirls is essentially a neat little, mass-marketed package designed to lift spirits and make everyone happy at the end. There are no messages about the perils of show business, about the show business obsession with looks over talent, about tragic lifestyles or about anything much at all for that matter. The film moves at such a frenetic pace that when it was over I felt like I had been on an extended rollercoaster that lacked any big drops, twists or turns.

Bill Condon is a very good director. He has made a wide variety of films including the excellent biopics Kinsey and Gods and Monsters. Here he brings very little zeal to the filmmaking. He has shown strength in the past both as a filmmaker and a screenwriter at character development but Dreamgirls is all show and no depth. There is a good story to be told with this material, but that story would have to be way less tidy and good-spirited than what Dreamgirls gives us.