Dreamgirls

 

Dreamgirls 2006

• Director: Bill Condon
• Cast: Beyoncé, Jamie Foxx, Eddie Murphy, Danny Glover, Jennifer Hudson, Anika Noni Rose, Keith Robinson, Sharon Leal, John Lithgow
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Beyoncé – Cadillac Records
• Jamie Foxx – Django Unchained, The Soloist, Ray
• Eddie Murphy – Coming to America, Beverly Hills Cop, Trading Places, 48 Hours
• Danny Glover – Be Kind Rewind, Honeydripper, Manderlay, The Royal Tenenbaums, Beloved, Bopha!, Lethal Weapon etc, The Colour Purple, Silverado, Witness, Hill Street Blues
• Keith Robinson – Get on Up
• John Lithgow – Interstellar, Third Rock from the Sun, Twelfth Night, The Pelican Brief, Foot Loose, The World According to Garp
• The subject
• Seen: Once before. Now 29 May 2021      

       This is kind of a fictionalised history of Motown and the Supremes. It’s not a pretty picture but we knew that. The film does not work well as a musical, it would have been so much better as a film about music. Beyoncé is great as is Jamie Foxx. Eddie Murphy is good too and Lithgow is fun in his little role, but I really don’t like Hudson’s type of meandering shrieking power soul ballad and I think Rinko Kikuchi from Babel would have been a better Oscar winner.

       As a film about music in Detroit in the turbulent 60’s it’s good (there could have been more focus on that) but it’s disjointed and tries too hard. 

3* of 5