008. Dreamgirls

I just had to use this poster that managed to pull a real life Effie on poor Jhud.

Watch and sing along to the trailer here.

Dreamgirls, also known as "Beyonce: The Musical", is about the struggles of Effie "And I am telling you" White as she goes from back up singer to Donkey from Shrek to back up singer to Beyonce to being totally ousted from her group, all of this while never giving up her dream of making it big. Truly inspirational.

 Despite the snark, I actually enjoyed this movie a lot. It's probably a fictitious take on the life of the Supremes and Motown but it's still interesting to imagine things going on similarly in real life. Jennifer Hudson does a good job as Effie White. Yeah, she's super annoying at times but I don't really think thats Hudson's fault, Effie is meant to be a larger than life diva.

 The pacing in the beginning was a bit slow but that's about my only complaint about this movie. The acting was pretty solid and Hudson is more than competent enough to handle this role, I clearly underestimated her. Beyonce herself is actually a surprisingly good "singer-actress". Eddie Murphy was as close as he'll ever be to creating a character that can compare to Donkey but sadly he fell a little short. Good stuff all around. The music is really good and I even preferred Beyonce's Listen to Effie's  (overplayed) signature song  (in the context of the movie, I mean).

As a side not I want to mention that this could just as easily be reinterpreted as Beyonce's life story. I can imagine the people in charge of casting had themselves a laugh when they decided to cast "Singer clawing her way to the top while receiving preferential treatment among the girls" Deena. They probably looked far and wide before settling for "Singer clawing her way to the top while receiving preferential treatment among the girls" Beyonce. Then they cast Kelly Rowland-esque secondary character Lorell with some chick who often looks like Kelly Rowland. At this point they decided to fuse LeToya and LaTavia into one character (not personality wise, just mass) and bam, you got the Effie character. Effie is later replaced by some character no one remembers (the parallel to that Destiny's Child member no one remembers). While I am aware that this is movie is not about Beyonce and her climb to the top (even going so far as taking time away from Taylor Swift) but rather a fictional take on Diana Ross and the Supremes the similarities are undeniable.

In any case, recommended. If you're a fan of good movies, musicals or both this movie is for you. If you hate musicals on the other hand go watch Kramer vs. Kramer or Austin Powers Goldmember  in case you are jonesing for something good or something Beyonce and can't get your fix from Dreamgirls.