No biz like show biz
Movies
Once one of Hollywood’s
greatest contributions to cinema, the movie musical now seems something of an
oddity, rarer even than another grand American form, the Western. Aside from
the cost of such productions and just possibly a dearth of talent — no new
Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Bob Fosse, Ginger Rogers, Cyd Charisse, or Gwen
Verdon waits in the wings — changing tastes in music may also contribute to
that decline, so that any film with a significant musical content depends more
on the past than the present, like the musical biographies of Cole Porter and Bobby
Darin, or that remake of a remake, The
Producers, all failures with both audiences and reviewers. The latest
contribution to the tradition, itself a film version of a Broadway production, Dreamgirls closely resembles far too many of its predecessors in style, content, even
inspiration to deserve all the superlatives that adorn the advertisements.
Though obviously inspired by the career of an actual singing
group, the famous Supremes, and featuring a cast of talented black actors, Dreamgirls closely resembles scores of
other musicals, most of them more original and more entertaining. Its story,
its people, its music all look and sound completely familiar; in fact, I think
most weary survivors of long nights in the resonant darkness of the movie
houses could predict the general course of its action and the behavior of its
people.
One in a long and practically unbroken line of show business
musicals stretching back to the days of 42nd Street,
the movie essentially weaves a string of clichรฉs through a rich tapestry of
spirited harmony. It begins with a talent contest at a theater in Detroit,
where a trio of young amateurs called The Dreamettes catch the eye of an
aspiring manager, a Cadillac salesman named Curtis Taylor
(Jamie Foxx), who arranges for them to sing backup for an R & B singer,
James “Thunder” Early (Eddie Murphy). The exuberant Jimmy Early, on the
verge of the coveted “crossover” from soul records to the pop charts, comes on
too strong for the sedate crowd at a Miami
Beach hotel, but his backup trio charms them and,
under Curtis’ management, takes their first steps to success.
Now christened The Dreams, the three young women, Deena
(Beyoncรฉ Knowles), Effie (Jennifer Hudson), and Lorrell (Anika Noni Rose),
embark on their own tour and begin to build a reputation. The quality of their
sound, along with Curtis’ payola, inspires disc jockeys to play their records
on big-time radio stations, enabling them to make the crossover that eludes
most ethnically marginalized musicians. To add a more widely marketable
appearance, Curtis replaces the lead singer, the gifted, overweight,
temperamental Effie, with Deena, who, though she lacks Effie’s great big voice,
is slim and beautiful, a demotion that leads to the dissolution of the trio’s
chemistry and a reinvention of their sound.
The story proceeds in the usual manner, with several
montages of headlines, magazine covers, TV appearances, etc., showing The
Dreams becoming international stars. At the same time, Effie, betrayed and
alone, lives in poverty, nurses a terrible and entirely justifiable bitterness,
and sings a couple of terrific, almost operatic solos. Increasingly the
sinister, manipulative manager of screen legend, Curtis continues to wound
people and destroy careers, following his belief that the music of The Dreams
is not about art or sound or beauty but about money.
In the manner of old fashioned musicals, the characters
often convert their important scenes into duets, articulating their feelings in
the style of their performances. Those performances, which interrupt the action
periodically, tend to lean heavily on glitter, stage effects, a throng of
dancers, and overpowering orchestrations. They ultimately constitute a somewhat
plodding series of rather bland and repetitive examples of three attractive
young women dressed in stunning gowns, singing close harmony and moving in
unison.
The actors, especially Eddie Murphy, perform with immense
energy and some genuine emotional power. All the voices sound
grand, especially Beyoncรฉ Knowles, even lovelier than Diana Ross, upon whom her
character is based. The great find of Dreamgirls, however, is Jennifer Hudson, whose big voice and
powerful presence threaten to blow all her co-stars off the screen; she makes
the picture worth watching (and hearing).
Dreamgirls(PG-13),
written and directed by Bill Condon, is now playing at Culver Ridge 16,
Pittsford, Henrietta 18, and Tinseltown.
This article appears in Jan 3-9, 2007.
