I liked it initially, but it seems more and more generic the more I think about it. I'm glad "Letters from Iwo Jima" was the film that likely replaced it for BP.

Jennifer Hudson's a crap actress, but her performance of "And I Am Telling You" was fabulous.

B

But She is so out of sync, and just shakes her arms a lot. Eddie Murphy did a lot better with any of his songs

it was like If I was Watching a really bad bollywood film sometimes...

With the overdramatic acting and melodrama and the whole singing while arguing thing....

A-



For a long time I avoided this movie. While I usually tend to check out major Oscar-nominated movies as soon as they are released in theatres I steered clear of this one because I looked very average and uninteresting. Had it been nominated for Best Picture I definitely would have seen it when it came out, but as it wasn't, I lost all my remaining interest. However, not too long ago, I happened to see it at my library and since it was for free anyway, I decided to check it out. And , man, I was in for some surprise! Maybe it's because my expectations were non-existent. Or maybe because the movie is just so damn good! Or simply both.

It isn't a perfect film. In fact I still can't understand some of the praise it has gotten. Eddie Murphy, while good, wasn't really Oscar-worthy, in my opinion. Sure, he was better there than in all other of his recent film, but is that really saying a lot these days? It was just a pretty solid performance, no more no less. The story is clichéd and very much been-there-seen-that. Nevertheless, I really really enjoyed this movie. How come? Because Dreamgirls is one of the most infectiously energetic, exuberant and spiritedmusicals I have ever seen and one of the most enjoyable films of recent years. And while it manages to maintain its energy and rhythm throughout its entire 131-minutes running time, it also manages to deal with some pretty dark and less "enjoyable" topics like drugs, plagiarism and mental breakdowns. Its cast is one of the reasons the whole thing works. I already mentioned Eddie Murphy earlier, but of course the true and well-deserved praise for this movie should go to Jennifer Hudson. Until I have seen the movie I just refused to believe that she would be that good. Well, she is and her Oscar win is definitely very well-deserved (admittedly, the category was rather weak that year). Hudson's "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" is simply amazing. That number convinced me that she was a deserving winner. Obviously, her voice is great, but her acting is right at the same level, at least in this movie.

With all the praise for Hudson, however, I must say that Beyonce impressed me in her role as well. In a way she was playing herself there and it was a rather curageous performance. I applaud her for that. Jamie Foxx was the weak link of the cast, in my opinion, not really contributing much with his performance, even though his character is intergral to the story.

However even with all the acting this movie would not have been as good if it weren't for the great musical numbers. Not all were equally good, but some were outright amazing. The ones that stood out to be the most, apart from the aforementioned one were both versions of One Night Only and "Move (You're Steppin' on My Heart)". These numbers were frankly more memorable to me than anything I saw/heard in Sweeney Todd, Mamma Mia or even Chicago in recent years. I also really loved the way the singing scenes were integrated into the story. They never felt out of place or awkward. All the parts just fit perfectly.

As I said right at the beginning, Dreamgirls is not a perfect movie, but it is probably the best they could have done with the material and I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. Jennifer Hudson and the music really made this movie to me and hell, it would have deserved its Best Picture nod actually more than several other films nominated in that year. One of the proofs of its memorability to me is that to this day I still find myself humming some of the songs of this film. The only musical that did the same to me was Singin' in the Rain.

__________________________________________________________________________________



This is how I'd rank the musicals of this decade:


1. Moulin Rouge!
2. Dreamgirls
3. Chicago
4. Hairspray
5. The Producers
6. Sweeney Todd
7. Mamma Mia!
8. Idlewild

I still haven't seen Rent.

To my absolute astonishement, she was actually the best of the Best Supporting Actress nominees in that year. She deserved it, IMO.

Jennifer Hudson's And I'm Telling You is probably the most mesmerizing performance/sequence in any musical film ever, and it would certainly rank up there in terms of all film as well.

But great movie, seriously. I loved the story (we've seen it before, but well done), the characters were very well portrayed, and Jennifer Hudson is not a human.

A

I still love the movie but Jennifer Hudson's performance has not aged well.

My initial post in this thread is overly enthusiastic, but this remains a very entertaining and satisfying film. I find it more engaging and resonant than most musicals. Murphy deserved the Oscar over Alan Arkin, though he obviously did not endear himself at the time between Norbit and storming out of the ceremony and so on and so forth.

Pffft.