DREAMGIRLS

"Look baby, I promised ya'll I was gonna make ya a star. Look at where you at now!"

DREAMGIRLS is the party of 2006, and everyone is invited. It’s a flashy, eye-popping, dramatic ride. Believe me when I say this, when this movie hits, it straight up kills.

Bill Condon writes and directs this lavishly shot look at one band’s rise to fame and how they deal with the limelight. Real-life diva Beyoncé Knowles shines as Deena Jones, who is in a Superemes-like three-woman band in the early-60s. Alongside of her is Lorrell Robinson and Effie White, played by Anika Noni Rose and Jennifer Hudson, who together make up the Dreamettes. A former American Idol contender, Hudson gives a breathtakingly affecting rookie performance as the girl who can sing the best, but inconveniently looks the worst.

Jamie Foxx is their manager, Curtis Jones, a true businessman. In the beginning he manages the girls during the night while maintaining his used car dealership during the day. One of the coolest sequences of the movie sees Curtis wordlessly going around to various spots in Detroit to get money to finance the girls’ record being played on the air. He sleeps with Effie to keep her happy, but when push comes to shove, he puts Deena at the front of the group to sell out more concerts. He then sleeps with her to keep her happy. Foxx is good as a man who will ruthlessly make a buck in any way, but who can’t openly show how much of an asshole he is.

What may be the most surprisingly part of the show is Eddie Murphy’s performance. Let’s face it, he’s never really been great before. He has had a few good movies, but never any juicy roles like this. As an aging, fledgling musician who originally cast the Dreams as his backup singers but quickly became their inferior, he succumbs the the drugs that destroy many a rock’n’roll dream. Murphy can touch the audience’s emotions, he can dance, and man, he can sing. His opening number is part of a twenty-minute sequence that introduces the audience to the Dreams, and features some of the biggest, grandest, most entertaining numbers in musical history.

As entertaining as this sequence is, it isn’t the best part of the show. When Jennifer Hudson sings “And I’m Telling You”, every audience around the world is going to explode. This is the rawest, most personal song of the show, and damn, Hudson goes for broke. A big F-U to all those who put her down and abandoned her because of her looks, most especially Deena and Curtis, Effie cries out to the audience in the most beautiful, affecting piece of the entire film.

While emotionally and musically the movie kills, Condon’s direction in a few scenes is iffy. The usual musical needs a suspension of disbelief to be taken seriously, where characters often break out into song instead of dialogue. In DREAMGIRLS, the story features a lot of music being sung by the group, so the suspension of disbelief isn’t needed. Part of the script calls for songs to be sung straight to the audience though, which comes off as a corny clash of sorts (the notable exception being “And I’m Telling You”, which is so damn impressive it doesn’t even matter).

This is really the only flaw in the film. The performances, costumes, and camerawork are all excellent, and the atmosphere is alive. It’s not only a look at one group’s dealing with fame, but a look at how artistic quality is sometimes slashed for a quick buck. This is a musical event.

A-