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Rating: 4 out of 5
We are back again with another review of a musical. I think I might have to change my tune with musicals because they are pretty good. Once again, I can’t do straight musicals. I need some dialogue to give me a break and figure out what is going on. Well, no matter, this time we get to review a black musical. Now my all-time favorite black musical is The Wiz with that classic song, “Slide Some Oil to Me,” but this is not a review on that musical. That one is sure to come, but hey, it does star Diana Ross, the co-subject of Dreamgirls.
Dreamgirls is a musical/work of fiction that takes strong inspiration from the history of the Motown record label and one of its acts, The Supremes. The film follows the history of American R&B music during the 1960s and 1970s through the eyes of a Detroit girl group known as “The Dreams” and their punk ass, manipulative, piece of shit record executive/manager. If you don’t know anything about the Supremes, then shame on you. This group was LEGENDARY! Let’s go on a bit of a history tour about the Supremes. They were founded as The Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959. The Supremes were the most commercially successful of Motown’s acts and the most successful American vocal group, with 12 number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100. The members consisted of Florence Ballard, Mary Wilson, Diana Ross, and Betty McGlown. Like most groups, people drop, and one becomes the focal point. Martin left the act in early 1962, and Ross, Ballard, and Wilson carried on as a trio. In 1967, Motown president Berry Gordy renamed the group Diana Ross & the Supremes and replaced Ballard with Cindy Birdsong. In 1970, Ross left to pursue a solo career. Sad, but they paved the way for many African-American artists today. You know how popular the Supremes were? At their peak, they rivaled the freakin Beatles in worldwide popularity. Yep, that’s right! Sistas rivaled the legendary Beatles.
Written and directed by Bill Condon, Dreamgirls starts off in Detroit in the early 1960s. Young car salesman Curtis Taylor Jr. (Foxx) meets a very talented black girl group known as “The Dreamettes.” The group consists of lead singer Effie White (Hudson) and backup singers Deena Jones (Knowles) and Lorrell Robinson (Rose) at an R&B amateur talent show at the Detroit Theatre. After the girls perform, Curtis immediately introduces himself as their new manager and begins a romantic relationship with Effie. Curtis quickly makes moves and hires the girls as backup singers for Chitlin’ Circuit R&B star Jimmy “Thunder” Early (Murphy). He also starts his own record label, Rainbow Records, and appoints Effie’s brother, C.C., as his head songwriter. When Jimmy’s star slowly fades, Curtis quickly moves in. He makes the Dreamettes into headliners as the Dreams while demoting Effie from the lead singer because of her weight to the softer-voice and beautiful Deena. As tension rises, Curtis and the group fire Effie, who goes one way into poverty, while the Dreams skyrocket to the top of the charts.
As far as the movie and plot go, it’s a musical that almost follows a group, but I will say this, there is some MAJOR DRAMA with everyone. The primary antagonist is Curtis, modeled after Berry Gordon Jr, a car salesman who turned into a record executive. You can’t get more snake-like than a car salesman. Well, it was eye-opening, even though I knew how the drama unfolded. For one, Curtis had Effie be the lead singer because he was tappin that ass. Then he became smitten with Deena Jones, who based upon Motown star Diana Ross and made her the lead singer. Effie was pissed, but also Curtis stated she was too big to be in front. I wished Effie would’ve whipped that ass. Also, when Effie was going through some things, the group kicked her out because they claimed she was bringing them down. Once Effie left, the group took off.
I wanted to see more of the Effie story, but the movie shifted to the explosion of Deena. Even though she was good, it felt like the film tried to make her such the focal point that you started to resent her. She became a massive star out of everyone’s expense. It also showed that she was naïve to what Curtis was doing with his dirty dealing with paying radio stations to play Deena songs and even taking songs others made, then do a cover and make it big. This is why I really didn’t care for Deena and Curtis because of how they did Effie wrong.
Another prominent story is with James (Jimmy) “Thunder” Early, inspired by R&B/soul singers such as James Brown, Jackie Wilson, and Marvin Gaye. Jimmy had some good as perm hair in the beginning. That man’s hair was pure joy on the top of his head. At the start, he was the lead singer with the Dreams as backup, but he was also a raucous performer on the Rainbow label engaged in an adulterous affair with Dreams member Lorrell. He hit a downward spiral when his era was up. When he tries to repackage himself, he falls into a deep and major depression which he copes through drugs. As the late, great Rick James said, “Cocaine is a hell of a drug.”
I want to start with the one and only Jennifer Hudson as far as performances go. Queen Beyonce might have gotten top billing because she is Queen B. I am not going to take anything away from her and her performance, BUT this is and was the Jennifer Hudson movie. Hudson can SING, and it’s a shame she didn’t win American Idol. Still, she made that show look meh because homegirl brought home an Academy Award for her first-ever role. I love Hudson as Effie White, inspired by Supremes member Florence Ballard. Hudson brought everything she had as the temperamental singer. She brought her powerful voice with I’m Not Going and Second Chance. I applaud you, Jennifer Hudson. You keep singing and let that voice carry to the heavens.
I want to give a standing ovation for Eddie Murphy as James (Jimmy) “Thunder” Early. I was heavily impressed with Murphy in this role. In the beginning, Murphy showed Jimmy as that fun-loving person. Still, as his star started to fade, you could see the anger rise and then come ahead when he does drugs or on stage with the song, “Jimmy Got Soul.”
Okay, we talked about the story and the primary cast but let’s talk about the music. We black people know how to make some soulful music, and this film showed it. I’m not going to talk about every single song, but there are a few that stand out. First, any song sung by Hudson is fantastic because that girl can sing. I wasn’t really feeling Beyonce’s “Listen.” It was powerful, but it was missing something, or she was trying a little too hard. I will say that “Steppin’ To The Bad Side” was one of my favorite songs. I really don’t know why.
Dreamgirls is a good movie that was turned into a musical. Overall, this should be called the Jennifer Hudson movie because she brought it. The storyline is pretty good, but you could probably watch a VH1: Behind the Music because there is significant drama, and you could probably get the real story. Oh, Eddie Murphy was also great in this film. Watch this film during a musical type week.
