Time To Get Real

Dreamgirls: Almost Was A Nightmare

Don't get me wrong. Dreamgirls the musical was one hell of a show back in the eighties. It almost singlehandledly revived the Broadway, won several Tony Awards, and the signature song "And I Am Telling You" still gets regular play by R&B stations. Not to mention the over 1500 performances by the original cast.

But enough about the old Dreamgirls. People are talking about the new Dreamgirls movie. The flashier prettier one with Beyonce, Jaimee Foxx, Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson. Not to mention that this one was directed by Bill Condon, who had great success with bringing the musical Chicago to the big screen.

Unfortunately, all the glitter and lighting effects will not distract a veteran movie go-er from the mixed bag of bad and good acting.

Good acting: Jennifer Hudson's convincing and consistant portrayal of the Effie character throughout the entire movie. Sure she doesn't have the near-perfect control that Jennifer Holliday has singing "And I Am Telling You", but playing Effie is very hard, and she managed to pull it off. SHE WON A FREAKING GOLDEN GLOBE FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!

Bad acting: Jaime Foxx's role as Curtis. Sure he plays the manager. Sure he's supposed to be a supporting character. But he's supposed to be a convincing manager, a charasmatic svengali. I wanted to yawn every time Jamie was on the screen. Maybe Jaime should stick to doing biographies.

Good acting: Eddie Murphy as James "Thunder" Early. Eddie was the big surprise in this film. Not only could he actually sing(surprising considering he sang "Party All The Time" back in the eighties) he also played his part convincingly, from the time he seduces Lorrell, to the time when he depressingly snorts cocaine. It made me walk away feeling sorry for the character, which is how a great tragic performance is supposed to make you feel.

Bad acting: Beyonce Knowles as Deena. Why is it that the most popular names and faces used to promote this movie were the worst in it? By and large, Beyonce takes up the most screen time, but is the weakest link in this movie(which makes me question Condon's motives for casting her considering she's the only one he auditioned for the role). It seemed to me she didn't understand the concept of "acting" which means you are suppossed to follow a "script". By belting out the songs, even writing a new one for the movie that seemed to be nearly out of character, it seemed like she was trying to distract people away from the fact that her portrayal left something to the imagination.

All in all, the supporting actors were the ones who prevented this potential suckfest from being chucked into the half-off bin six months hence when it comes out on DVD. Anika Noni Rose, Danny Glover, and Keith Robinson know their way around Broadyway and television. They gave convincing, albeit small performances. But these, and the ones by Eddie and Hudson are the ones you'll remember, long after you leave the theater.

Just ignore the skinny girl singing lead.