DreamGirls (2006) is the ShizNit
By ph. diddy on Dec 30, 2006 in Movie Reviews
I saw Dreamgirls (2006) today and I must say that the movie was pretty darn good - ok, it was excellent. I was blown away by Jennifer Hudson’s performance. She thoroughly deserved all the hype she has been receiving for her portrayal of Effie White. She delivered majorly. Her voice brought tears to my eyes more than once. While she was unquestionably the star of the film, the other supporting cast members were all spot on. Beyonce Knowles (Deena Jones) was actually quite good. I loved her performance of “Listen.” It was effective. It was also nice to see Eddie Murphy (James “Thunder” Early) singing. I had flashes of “my girl wants to party all the time…” Nevertheless, he was very charming and surprisingly vulnerable. Anika Nona Rose (Lorrell Robinson) should definitely not be overlooked. She has a great voice and was very funny. Jamie Foxx (Curtis Taylor, Jr.) was the cool cucumber that we all know and love. My one gripe with the movie was a song sung by Foxx - “When I First Saw You” - what a crock of bull that was. Other than that small misstep, the movie delivered big. In fact, I loved the movie so much that I went out and purchased the soundtrack
2 Comment(s)
By Toni on Jan 3, 2007 | Reply
I watched it yesterday, and gave it a pretty high review at my website. I agree with you in that Jamie Foxx’s singing was “eh”. As for Hudson, she was great, but I think that her singing far outshined her acting. The true test of course, is if she can act in a movie that doesn’t require her to sing.
As for Beyonce, I thought she was ok, but kind of bland for the most part, even in Act II. She was supposed to be the Diva, Deena Jones but was still so weak and nearly invisible. It’s funny since Beyonce has such a strong, commanding presence in real life. I don’t know why she couldn’t translate that to the screen.
And as for Eddie, oh man, since when did he become so old? My god, those deep bags under his eyes, his thin, worn face- I couldn’t belive it! I couldn’t decide if they just made him look older, if he just looked old next to his younger co-stars, or if it’s because he really is old.
By donyell on Jan 3, 2007 | Reply
after listening to the soundtrack and then going to see the movie again (yeah, i know), i found that jennifer hudson’s onscreen performance was much more dramatic and powerful than simply listening to her voice on my ipod…