Too Much Broadway, Not Enough Motown
Dreamgirls Wastes Great Performances On So-So Material

The new movie Dreamgirls is a better than average musical dragged down by its sub-par music. The performances by members of its cast are among the best I’ve seen in an ensemble production of this sort in a long time, but all of the songs, as well as most of the dialogue and plot developments, are exceptionally forgettable.

(l-r): Beyonce Knowles, Anika Noni Rose and Jennifer Hudson star as the singing group The Dreams in the new musical Dreamgirls.

That’s too bad, because there are some breakthrough performances going on here. But like last year’s dismal Rent, this movie fails to properly make the transition from Broadway stage show to modern movie musical. The dramatic bits between the songs feel like filler until the next big musical number comes along, and the plot sounds as if it were cribbed from a particularly trite episode of VH1’s Behind The Music.

Dreamgirls is based on the Broadway musical of the same name that debuted in 1981—one that was loosely based on the success in the 1960s and early 70s of the Motown group The Supremes. The movie stars Beyonce Knowles as Deena Jones (the Diana Ross of the group), Anika Noni Rose as Lorrell Robinson and former American Idol contestant Jennifer Hudson as Effie White. Collectively they are known as The Dreams and the movie follows their sudden rise to stardom in the 1960s as set against the backdrop of The Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War.

The superb cast is filled out with an assortment of alpha males including music managers Curtis Taylor (Jamie Foxx) and Marty Madison (Danny Glover) and recording star Jimmy “Thunder” Early (Eddie Murphy).

The road to success is a hard one for The Dreams and Taylor’s decision to make Deena the front-and-center girl despite the fact that Effie is the best singer upsets the trio’s harmony and future.

As far as the plot goes, that’s about it.

The real failure of Dreamgirls lies in the failure of writer and director Bill Condon to update the musical from its early 80s beginnings. The songs all sound the same, to a degree, without a smidgeon of Motown soul in this utterly boring cavalcade of showtunes. That’s not to say that the cast doesn’t do its best with the material it has been given. Beyonce and Hudson belt these songs out as if their lives (or at least their careers) depended on it. And many of the performances (not the songs) left me moved.

Hudson’s performance in particular is one that deserves all of the accolades she is currently receiving. A novice actress, she conveys more with her steely stare and pouty mouth than many more experienced actors can hope to communicate with a whole page of dialogue. With her fleshy figure and her gospel-tinged roar of a voice, she reminded me of a young Aretha Franklin and her Effie is truly the only character in the film who grows and changes throughout its 15-year timeline.

If Hudson steals the show as a newcomer, Eddie Murphy is a revelation as Jimmy Early, an entertainer who does his best to change with the changing times. Jimmy is a one complex dude—selfish but honest enough to know that he depends on others to make his living. He also has a showman’s streak that lives for his moment in the spotlight.

Murphy’s remarkable performance is enough to make one wonder why he continues to make insipid comedies like the upcoming Norbit.

Despite the fine acting and singing by Murphy, Hudson and the rest of the cast, Dreamgirls is simply a Broadway musical from the early 1980s that tries to tell a story about one of the golden eras of American music…then fails to recreate that music’s magic for the audience.

In many ways Dreamgirls is this year’s Brokeback Mountain in that some mysterious force of the entertainment industry has deemed it politically incorrect to point out the movie’s flaws. I’m sorry, but it has too many to ignore.

Dreamgirls is rated PG-13 for language, some sexuality and drug content. It is currently playing at Regal Cinemas in Boone.

Golden Globe Awards

Flaws or no flaws, Dreamgirls fared well at this week’s Golden Globe Awards. The movie won the award for Best Picture (Musical or Comedy) and Jennifer Hudson and Eddie Murphy won Best Supporting Actress and Best Supporting Actor awards, respectively.

The other big winners from the Golden Globes were Meryl Streep, who won Best Actress (Musical or Comedy) for her performance in The Devil Wears Prada, Martin Scorsese, Best Director winner for The Departed, Sacha Baron Cohen, Best Actor (Musical or Comedy) winner for Borat, Helen Mirren, Best Actress (Drama) winner for The Queen, and Forest Whitaker, Best Actor (Drama) winner for The Last King of Scotland. The Golden Globe for Best Drama went to Babel.