So, I begin with the first film I saw in 2007, Dreamgirls.
The musical is a tricky storytelling medium to bring to film. Most musicals, especially recently, have failed to garner critical success, commercial success, or, in most cases, both. In my opinion, the main reason for this is that most musicals tend to be loaded with songs instead of focusing on the story and the characters. Music is an excellent way of emoting and showing feeling in an entertaining way, but it doesn't mean anything if there aren't characters we can invest in, or a story that is compelling. For example, think about action movies. The reason why Casino Royale worked, while Die Another Day didn't was because Casino Royale used action sequences to suppliment character and plot development. The movie is all about Bond and Vesper and the story. Now think about Die Another Day and try to remember the plot or anything interesting about the characters. Its the same way with musicals, they can be good, but only if the characters and story are there.
Which brings me to Dreamgirls, a film I was very excited to see, but that didn't live up to my hopes because it was a series of songs without a developing plot or characters to tie them together. Ostensibly, the film is about the Dreams, a Motown-style girl group who hit it big, but fall apart when one of them takes over. However, director Bill Condon is not particularly interested in telling that story. Instead, we get a series of extremely well-shot and well-performed songs, but no substance behind them.
The film begins entertainingly enough, focusing mainly on James Early (Eddie Murphy) and Effie White (Jennifer Hudson). Murphy gives the film's best performance, capturing both Early's charisma and manic nature early in the film, while also doing a great job of showing him as tired and desperate later. Hudson also does a great job with her character, and she has the film's emotional highlight, "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going"
The problem is that this highlight comes way too early, half-way through the film, leaving nowhere to go but down. After that the song the film rather abruptly shifts focus to Jamie Foxx's cardboard character (he's the evil, controlling manager!) and Beyonce Knowles' bland diva. By moving away from the two most interesting and well-acted characters to two extremely bland ones, Condon severely damaged the film and the result is that the second half is a tedious presentation of songs that feels more like the variety show that Foxx's character puts on than an actual movie. Additionally, because the film ditches Hudson so early, her character ends up feeling underdeveloped. The film was never going to recover from "And I'm Telling You," but it didn't have to curl up and die after it.
In the end, I thought Dreamgirls contained a few songs and excellent performances from Murphy and Hudson , but the second half was just too painful for me to fully recommed this movie.
C+
1 comment:
C+? Really? That's a bit harsh.
As for Curtis lacking depth, I disagree. Curtis wasn't always a bad guy. He had the best intentions, and in many ways, he was right--the world at large wasn't going to accept performers he knew were talented unless he saturated the market with it. He wasn't just motivated by greed, but a legitimate stake in the Dreams' future, knowing they were better than the talent show circuit, just like he knew Jimmy deserved to be a star. He saw his actions as the only way to give them what they deserved, and everything began to snowball until he bought into his own hype and became a controlling bastard. By the end of the film, he is grasping at any control he can keep (e.g., the "CC can quit, but you can't" scene). Foxx may not play it desperate, but that's because Curtis never gives away his hand. He's not like Effie who crumbles and pleads in a moment of desperation--he's far too proud for that.
Now, whether Foxx played the potential of the character to the best of his ability is certainly debatable. But the complexity of the Curtis character, in my personal opinion, is not a topic of discussion. Given, I feel this way having spent a good deal of time researching this show and listening to both the Broadway and motion picture cast recordings, so if you didn't get that on first viewing, that's understandable.
But yeah, Deena (or just Beyonce in general) is boring. Then again, she's supposed to be up until "Listen" (and I won't even front--when she practically spits out that "I followed the voice you THOUGHT you gave to me", I was really in the girl's corner. That's the one moment where Beyonce made me believe it).
Bottom line, I'd say Dreamgirls is at least a strong B, or B+. A- might be in order if I see it again, but I'm not pushing it right now.
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