An excellent movie - a musical with a good story.

Rating: 9/10 (29 December 2006)

I hate musicals but loved Dreamgirls. It had a great story, great songs and constant conflict between the main characters to keep the plot moving. The history of the 1950's (whites displacing blacks on the Billboard charts with watered-down versions of the same song) and 1960's (MLK and the Detroit riots) added an important part to the story. Jennifer Hudson had two show-stopping solos that drew heavy applause from the audience. Eddie Murphy and Jamie Foxx were excellent. Though I know the show and movie are "loosely based" on the story of Diana Ross and the Supremes and I am very familiar with that history, I still never knew what would happen next or how the movie would play out. There were a couple of slow spots but I don't know of anything specific I would have cut out. Beyonce was Beyonce but Jennifer Hudson really stole the show, though she received less billing than Beyonce in the credits at the end of the movie. December has been a very disappointing month for movies when Hollywood usually showcases its Oscar-worthy pictures but Dreamgirls really stands out. Look for many Oscar nominations from Dreamgirls, though there should be lots of competition for similar categories, perhaps leading to the plot of Dreamgirls II.