Dream Girls
Dream Girls is the fictional account of the rise 60’s girl group, starting out unknown as The Dreamettes and ending up world famous as The Dreams. This film is quite the spectacle, as it should be, and the music is far better than I’d expected. Sure there’s a clunker or two that sound like a show tune rip off of a soul song, but that’s not the majority. As a matter of fact, I was pleasantly surprised at how well they were able to capture how that sound changed and developed over that time period. There are little touches that pull it together and show that these people really are fans of the music.
You’ve got people here that do some tremendous work, specifically Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson. Theses two really bring Dream Girls up to a level that without them it would have been a fairly entertaining, but a wholly forgettable film where the biggest thing would have been the novelty of Beyonce Knowles starring in it. Hudson is incredible and I lover her pipes. As an enormous fan of 60’s soul music she was a pleasant surprise, but Murphy takes the cake. There is a scene where he has a new song rejected by head of the label and with one glance he sums up his entire life and everything he’s feeling. It’s very small and restrained, especially compared to the rest of the film, but perfect.
Having never seen the stage production before, I couldn’t figure out why Diana Ross was doing press for this film, since this was supposedly loosely based on The Supremes. Now I totally get it. This is a love story to her. It completely absolves her of any blame in the Supremes falling apart. I’m not saying that she’s a bad person or that it was her fault, but to paint her as a saint is ridiculous. Actually, to be fair the film makes her seem more like a sweet hearted moron. You know, like Forrest Gump.
Alright to be fair it’s not that bad, but Deena, the character based on her, is too stupid to see what’s going on around her until she’s living in mansions with floor to ceiling paintings of herself on the walls. Once she finally puts two and two together, she throws her relationship with Curtis Taylor, Jr. out the window and does everything she can to make it right. It would be one thing if this was a fictitious account, but let’s face it, this is the story of Diana Ross and The Supremes right down to the insane wigs and little Michael Jackson. In that respect, it grates on me just how false it comes off.
Having said all that, is this a good movie? Definitely. Did I need to here it and the word “Oscar” in the same sentence from the moment it started preproduction? No. It’s a great flick with some wonderful music and a couple performances that may deserve some nominations. Unless you just flat out hate musicals, you’re going to enjoy this one and even then you might want to give it a shot, because I had a friend who didn’t realize he was watching a musical until it was too late. He liked it more than I did.
The Grade
- Story: B
- Acting: A
- Visuals: A-
- Originality: B+
- Enjoyability: A
- Overall: A-
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