BY JASON BLAIR
Deena (Beyoncé Knowles), Effie
(Jennifer Hudson) and Lorrell (Anika
Noni Rose) in Dreamgirls
Dreams A Go-Go
Motown movie musical has it all.
DREAMGIRLS:
Directed by Bill Condon.
Written by Condon (screenplay) and Tom Eyen (book).
Cinematography, Tobias A. Schliessler. Starring
Jamie Foxx, Beyoncé Knowles, Eddie Murphy, Danny
Glover and Jennifer Hudson. Paramount Pictures and
DreamWorks SKG, 2007. PG-13. 131 minutes.
44441
B
roadway musicals adapted by
Hollywood tend to be very good
(Grease, Chicago) or very bad (A
Chorus Line, The Phantom of the Opera).
When you consider the built-in audience of a
Broadway hit, which might run for more
than a decade, extreme opinions of an adap-
tation aren’t surprising. And given the nature
of Broadway productions — the complex
staging, lighting and choreography involved
— a failure is apt to be a big failure, while a
success gets proclaimed an instant classic.
Whether it’s an instant classic is debat-
able, but Dreamgirls is an overwhelming
success. Adapted from the 1981 musical,
which itself was inspired by the success of
The Supremes, Dreamgirls is a non-stop
musical thrill ride from early R&B to disco.
But this isn’t your father’s musical: Here,
swirling cameras create euphoric dance
sequences while, during critical plot points,
spoken dialogue and singing alternate.
Unlike Grease or even Chicago, the songs
in Dreamgirls aren’t based in narrative-
puncturing fantasy, à la “Beauty School
Dropout.” In Dreamgirls, the lyrical con-
tent directly addresses and advances the
story. The more integrated music gives
Dreamgirls a seamless feel.
Dreamgirls is the story of Curtis Taylor,
Jr. (Jamie Foxx), a car salesman who rises to
fame as the manager of James Early (Eddie
Murphy) and his backup talent, the
Dreamettes. For a short time, they’re a mod-
estly successful musical family. But after
James gyrates wickedly in front of a stunned
white audience — this is, after all, the early
’60s — Curtis renames the girls the Dreams
in order to promote them on their own. It’s
one of many cutthroat moves by Curtis,
whom Foxx underplays as a villain with
almost no inner conflict. Curtis is a force
that lacks vigor. Murphy, on the other hand,
gives his best performance ever. After 25
years of hit-and-miss comedy, Eddie
Murphy is finally a great supporting actor.
The central conflict of the film emerges
when Curtis replaces Effie (Jennifer Hudson),
the established lead vocalist, with Deena
(Beyoncé Knowles). Deena, younger and pret-
tier than Effie, can’t sing like Effie can, so
Effie reluctantly disembarks. A run of
unprecedented success follows, but not with-
out a price. Curtis, resembling an Ike Turner-
ish control freak, gradually pushes Deena
(now his wife) away. Knowles is graceful and
nuanced here, seeming comfortable in every
scene. But the film belongs to Hudson, the for-
mer American Idol runner-up, whose arrival
(Dreamgirls is her first film) is already being
compared to that of Streisand and Midler, two
legends who also arrived fully formed.
What Dreamgirls lacks, if anything, is
consistency of energy and pace. After an
efficient, up-tempo start, the film breezes
through the last five years of the Dreams’
remarkable career. Along the way, director
Condon (Gods and Monsters) tries to estab-
lish a context of social upheaval, but the
acknowledgement of riots, MLK and racial
disharmony feels tacked on to give the story
weight. Dreamgirls isn’t built to carry that
load: Weightlessness, the sheer joy of per-
forming, is the natural state of this musical
fantasia. It’s the celluloid version of opening
a bottle of champagne. While Curtis’s ambi-
tion and pride cost them all dearly, the film is
about how passion makes up for talent, and
how very little is beyond forgiveness. ew
JANUARY 18, 2007 21