Dreamgirls

Well, that was disappointing. And as usual, I blame it on the film’s theatrical origins. The songs and story are lacklustre, might have made it on Broadway but are revealed as empty by Hollywood. Everybody in the film tries too hard, as if to make up for the weakness of the material. It’s a familiar showbiz story, with an exceedingly obvious transposition of The Supremes into The Dreams. Now I’ve always been a fan of The Supremes, but the songwriting here comes nowhere near the magic of Holland-Dozier-Holland. It’s neither R&B nor Disco in turn, but pure show tune. And the placement of the story in a cultural moment is perfunctory at best. It’s utterly lame, and almost offensive, when the characters step out of the world of the would-be Hitsville recording studio into the inferno of Detroit on fire in the 1968 riots. On the basis of Gods and Monsters and Kinsey, I expected more from writer/director Bill Condon, whose work here is frantic and too all-that-jazzy. All the actors substitute energy for shading or subtlety. Eddie Murphy comes off best, as he transitions from James Brown type to Marvin Gaye clone, losing his soul along the way. Jamie Foxx is wound tight and under wraps as the Berry Gordy character. Beyonce Knowles may or may not be another Diana Ross -- she is certainly effective as eye candy and in different styles of performing. And Jennifer Hudson is powerful but overwrought and narrow in her characterization, as the girl with the big voice and the big body who is forced out of the group when it goes from soul to pop (cf. Flo Ballard.) It’s clearly the lead role in the movie, but there is a certain justice in her winning an Oscar as supporting actress. She does provide some moments, but can’t carry the film on her own. So there are some showstopping performances, which do exactly that, they stop the flow of the movie. They may carry the day on stage, live in person, but without a story or characters to care about, the film never comes alive, despite working up a sweat. (2006, dvd, n.) *6-* (MC-76.)