As I sat in the darkened auditorium today, credits rolling on the screen, I didn't know whether to laugh, cry, or simply shake my head. I ended up going for the 3rd option, with a little of the 1st thrown in.

Such is Dreamgirls, an equally ravishing as it is a ridiculous movie.



Ravishing because it surpasses any movie in recent memory by leagues with it glamour, glitter, gloss, beautiful women (Beyonce Knowles is stunning from every angle) and colorful costumes. And ridiculous because it is the most cobbled-together kaleidoscope of surprisingly great performances (by Jennifer Hudson and Eddie Murphy), a toe-tapping soundtrack - and a story that never manages to fully materialize or convince, with dialogue that decides half-way through the movie that it wants to be sung.

Really - for anybody who has seen this movie, I can't possibly come as a surprise that it didn't get nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. It's just ... too absurd. Pity really. It had so much potential.

About a third into it - and just as Eddie Murphy was shaking up the house with some funk tune while lewdly girating his hips - I found myself thinking Hey - this is a great movie! I'm really enjoying this. The music felt good, the visuals were dazzling, Eddie and Jennifer were terrific. Roughly 20 minutes later however, someone made the horrible producing/directing decision to have the characters sing their dialogue to eachother. At every opportunity. Together with the other musical numbers, this completely threw the movie out of balance, and once it started going down hill, there was no stopping it.

Its only saving grace was the passionate performance by Jennifer Hudson, whose naturally raw voice carries so much power and weight, you'd never suspect that only a couple of years ago, she was a mere 6th runner-up on 'American Idol'. This movie was a good showcase for her, and I hope to hear and see more of her in the future.

In conclusion however, I cannot recommend the film. The sung dialogue really killed it for me. Every time a character started to speak, I cringed in anticipation of it being sung instead of spoken. And unfortunately, too often, I was disappointed.

The only times I've ever seen a movie musical that didn't suck:

1) Sound of Music
2) Moulin Rouge

Otherwise, pretty much every other one I've seen tries to be overly musical and forgets about actual dialog/plot.

Couldn't agree more. I've scoured my memory banks, and couldn't come up with any other musical but 'Moulin Rouge' that didn't suck.

And even that one took some getting used to. I saw it in the theatre and wanted to walk out after 10 minutes. But after seeing them do the Nirvana song, I changed my mind, and the absurd became brilliant.

I now have it on DVD and watch it at least once a year. :)

Once a year? That DVD plays at our house once a month, at least. It's frickin' hilarious, espeically all the mashups (and the "Like A Virgin" routine is a riot).

Heh.

Ya know, Jake - there are simply too many movies out there as that I could justify watching that specific one once a month ... but I totally hear ya. It's a damn good one.

I now only hope you don't watch the 'Sound of Music' once a month too. I'd have to start getting seriously worried about you... ;)

What, you haven't seen my Trapp family shrine? ;-)