Dreamgirls

Starring: Jamie Foxx, Beyonce Knowles, Eddie Murphy, Jennifer Hudson

Director: Bill Condon  

Rating: ★

I felt excited with the thought of seeing Dreamgirls. Not only is it one of the most hotly tipped Oscar contenders, the film also includes an all star line-up including the Queen of Sexiness herself, R&B diva Beyonce Knowles. The film has been adapted from the musical (with the same name), and is said to be based on the life of Diana Ross and the Supremes, so I was set for an interesting piece of cinema.

Dreamgirls starts with an explosion of glitter and melodies, as many different soulful acts sing songs to a baying audience. We wait for the moment that the struggling group The Dreams, made of Effie (American Idol reject Jennifer Hudson), Deena (Beyonce Knowles) and Lorrell (Anika Noni Rose) will come out and dazzle us with their amazing voices. And dazzle they do. All three are remarkable singers, and the beginning of the film sets the scene for many more spectacular musical numbers to come. Unfortunately, this hyped up beginning is quickly lost in a sea of poor plotting, bad scripting and sometimes amateur directing. What could have been a dream of a film, rapidly turned out to be a nightmare.

The Dreams are a struggling 60’s soul group, who grab the attention of part time talent agent Curtis Taylor (Jamie Foxx). Curtis makes a deal with the girls to be backup singers for the sleazy but talented James ‘Thunder’ Early (Eddie Murphy), until they can become stars in their own right. Slowly but surely the girls work their way up the showbiz ladder to become an established and popular group, and at the same time Curtis takes a shine to the confident and brash Effie, but secretly longs for the shy but beautiful Deena.

As soon as ‘The Dreams’ finally become famous, the plot starts to dwindle, and after a powerfully sung but confused song ‘And I am Telling You I’m Not Going’ by Effie, things really being to go downhill.

All of the actors really work hard- Eddie Murphy particularly shines in his Academy Award nominated role, Jamie Foxx makes the best out of his tired character and even Beyonce, who I wasn’t expecting to be very good, really made the effort and made her character likeable, for the first half, before quickly becoming painfully wooden, as unfortunately for her, acting is not her forte. And Jennifer Hudson can surely belt out the numbers, but struggles to act convincingly, and this reviewer questions the Academy's decision to award her with a Best Supporting Actress Oscar, especailly when she mumbles through the film giving her best (and almost shockingly racist) interpretation of a 'mammy'.

The songs are sung amazingly, and some of them are really catchy (‘Dreamgirls’, ‘One Night Only’ and ‘Listen’) but unfortunately some are very cheesy (especially the vomit inducing ‘Family’).

The beginning of the film is great- it is just the middle that start to lag, then plunges head first into an abyse. This is mainly because the plot is confusing and boring, which should have been more about Deena and Curtis is instead about Effie.

With an emotionally feel good ending, Dreamgirls finishes in a sickly and cheesy explosion of forced emotions and feelings, unable to make up for the middle hour that just wasn’t up to scratch. One of the main problems with Dreamgirls was the way in which the director handled the musical numbers. In Chicago all of the songs are seen to be a part of Roxie’s imagination, which makes the song and dance routines more realistic. Unfortunately, the director of Dreamgirls did not opt for this idea, as the characters just randomly start to brake out into song, much like The Sound of Music.

In the words of the harmonious Dreams: “Dreamgirls will help you through the night, Dreamgirls will make you feel alright”. Dreamgirls did help me through the night (the thought of Beyonce Knowles), but didn't make me feel alright. I was just disappointed that it and did not live up to my expectations, and did not sparkle as brightly as it could have. It was just glitsy rubbish.