Dreamgirls

Oh the joy of sneaking into a second movie. But come on, who could pass up Dreamgirls when it was right on the other side of the hall! And it was totally worth it!
Right from the start Dreamgirls had me tapping my foot whether I wanted to or not. The songs were strong, the colors were bright and the characters bold. I didn't look at the time on my cell phone once, which now a days is a rarity.
Dreamgirls is about three girls, Deena(Beyonce Knowles), Lorrell(Anika Noni Rose) and Effie(Jennifer Hudson) that make up the Dreamettes, a group of struggling singers looking to make it big in the music industry. They start out singing in a competition where they shine, but surprisingly another contestant wins, however, when a big time singers backup singers quit, they get the opportunity to replace them. The man who approaches them about this is Curtis Taylor(Jamie Foxx), manager of James "Thunder" Early(Eddie Murphy), who eventually convinces the girls to take the gig. Eventually they become too good for Early and Curtis makes them into their own group, but this is where the problems start. Effie has always sung lead, and is the one with the most talent, but Deena is the one with the looks, so Curtis decides that she should be the new lead singer because the girls would be more marketable that way. Effie puts up a fight and Deena is hesitant to take on the lead, but for the better of the group they agree and Curtis promises Effie that she'll get her chance. As time goes by Effie realizes that Curtis is not keeping his promise, and this leads to her walking out on rehearsals and performances, and her eventual replacement. Deena becomes a star while Effie struggles to make a living, but don't worry all ends well in this musical.
With such a solid cast which includes Jamie Foxx, Beyonce Knowles, Danny Glover, and Eddie Murphy, Jennifer Hudson steals every scene that she's in with her strong personality and harsh attitude. Even being up against pop sensation Beyonce, she makes her look like an amateur. So why didn't this girl win American Idol? After seeing a spectacular performance by Foxx in Ray, he disappointingly falls short in Dreamgirls. His Ike Turner-like character just blends into the background in all of the musical numbers, hardly showing his natural charisma and the great musical talent that he possesses. Murphy, like Hudson, hits a home run with his performance as the out of control, do it his way, Jimmy Early, who reminds me a lot of the late James Brown. He brings tons of energy to the film, giving us lots of laughs, however, he is more than the comic relief in this film. Jimmy not only struggles with his drug addiction, but trying to be able to let his own personality shine out through his music, while Curtis suppresses Jimmy's own style, telling him his time is over, crushing his hopes and dreams. This is by far Murphy's best work to date, and hopefully he'll take home the Oscar for it.

Grade: B+