Would be Better on Stage

Rating: 6/10 (21 March 2008)

I am a fan of the musical genre so I am always extremely excited when modern Hollywood attempts to make one, as musicals have become very scarce in American movies. When I heard about Dreamgirls I thought it was the perfect launching vehicle for Beyonce Knowles into films that achieve some critical acclaim as oppose to the endless boring date/comedies she has been churning out. Dreamgirls was a vibrant colorful movie that had a strong soap opera quality. The story was the basic framework of any movie about Hollywood hopefuls, friends sell out and use each other and forget about the artistry of their craft in order to become successful. I don't mind a movie having a generic storyline that one can figure out in the first twenty minutes as long as the film tries new and entertaining tools to bring new life to an old tale (much like Singin In the Rain). Unfortunately Dreamgirls did not, it never took a risk anywhere and never took a step above being a B movie. Jamie Foxx (The snake of a Manager) and Jennifer Hudson (The Forgotten Friend) steal the show but their characters feel more like stage characters then movie characters. Eddie Murphy is tremendous as a James Brown sort of performer who develops life ending drug habit but absolutely gets robbed of camera time and development, why did they kill of the most interesting character in the show half way through the movie. The biggest problem with Dreamgirls is that none of the songs were memorable, if your going to make a musical I have to at least remember one of the songs, I just saw the movie and I can' remember one except Jennifer Hudson's "your gonna love me" which isn't an original song. Dreamgirls did look great though as Bill Condon did a very nice job and the performances and outfits put me right into that time period. It also showed some promise for the career of Beyonce Knowles.