I SOMEHOW managed to miss the inevitable hype when 'Dreamgirls' (12) was first being promoted and when I picked up the DVD I was expecting a movie about wannabe music stars, not a musical in its own right.
A musical it is though, like ‘Oklahoma’, ‘The Sound of Music’ and a host of others before it, if hardly in the same vein.
Of course stage musicals have long endured in popularity - witness the star search shows seeking to cast some talented newcom
er in the likes of ‘Joseph’ and ‘Grease’ - but movie musicals have been few and far between in recent years.
By having the music industry as its central theme, ‘Dreamgirls’ takes the edge off the sense of surrealism some modern viewers might experience at cast members - including Beyonce Knowles, Jamie Foxx, Danny Glover and none other than Eddie Murphy in an all-singing, all-dancing role - periodically singing their lines rather than speaking them.
Set in the 1960s/70s, the movie tells the tale of a girl group who break into the big time thanks to the shrewd but ultimately self-serving and unprincipled management of car-salesman turned music mogul Curtis Taylor Junior (Foxx) who establishes the girls - Deena Jones (Knowles) Lorrell Robinson (Anika Noni Rose) and Effie White (newcomer Jennifer Hudson) as backing singers for Jimmy Early (Murphy) a talented performer whose popularity and earning power is restricted in a still racially divided America.
Cutris quickly displaces Jimmy’s existing manager Marty Madison (Glover), who is not to be the only casualty, the manipulative manager relegating lead singer Effie to back-up before replacing her in the line-up; even Jimmy is soon sidelined as Curtis hitches his wagon to the rising star that is Deena.
‘Dreamgirls’ is a moral tale about the value of friendship and the potential for corruption in the lure of fame and fortune. The music may not be to everyone’s taste but the performances, Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson’s more notably even than that of Beyonce given the former’s newcomer status, are powerful and passionate, the harmonies glorious.
Beyonce’s performance as an actress is likewise praiseworthy, the part allowing her to demonstrate a depth of talent earlier, more light-hearted roles did not.
Eddie Murphy, meanwhile, is likewise a powerful presence, whether playing it for laughs or not -‘not’ being more often the case here - belting out the numbers with gusto and skill.
Murphy was too readily relegated in favour of young pretenders whose style owed much to the man they supplanted, but whether by giving voice to an animated donkey or bursting into song, he periodically demonstrates he’s never to be underestimated.
After the better part of two hours I felt the finale a touch anti-climactic, coming on in a rush, but on the whole ‘Dreamgirls’ is a well-crafted explosion of light and sound, an atmospheric period piece telling an old tale in style.
