Devine Dreamgirls

Well, the worst happened and I have (barely) lived to tell. I got dragged to Dreamgirls last night and I am able to say it wasn't a complete disaster. For about 45 seconds we got to see Loretta Devine (the original Lorrell) on screen talking and slightly singing. Of course, the scene was not in the original Broadway production, it was a throw-away to us theatre queens, but it was a fabulous throw-away and a whole half minute more screen time than Chita Rivera got in Chicago. As for the rest of the movie, pure crap as expected. First of all, if Beyonce seriously thought she was going get a leading nomination for her part, she is even more deluded than I thought. Deena was firmly a supporting character and Effie was the lead character, which makes me hope even more that Abigail Breslin's name is announced when the envelope is opened. No matter what the category though, Jennifer Hudson does not deserve an award. Granted, I'm not her biggest fan, but she truly underwhelmed me. All I can say is, if Jennifer Holiday was dead, she'd have rolled over in her grave. For about the first half of the movie, it appeared that Billy Condon took his cues from Joel Schumacher's awful cinematic adaptation of Phantom and was turning it into a long music video, with all the singing being done by characters on stage and by offscreen voices to narrate the action on screen. A true musical has characters bursting into song walking down the street, and it wasn't until the We Are A Family number that the characters spontaneously broke into song. Also, what's all the fuss about Eddie Murphy? I didn't think it was that big of a stretch for him, and while I haven't seen the stage production and can't compare, his character was completely non-essential to the plot. The whole movie could have been made without his character and would not have suffered, and would have had the added benefit of being shorter. I can say a few good things; the new songs were not bad, although I wish they had been song by other people, and the set/production design was dead on. It's too bad there's no Oscar for production design, it would be the one category Dreamgirls would deserve to win in. So, to restore my faith in musicals, I spent this afternoon watching Call Me Madam, and was delighted. Definitely one of Merman's best celluloid performances, the director should have won an Oscar for getting her to act to the camera instead of her usual acting to the balcony. Great music, great sets and costumes, and a wonderful cast, that is what movie musicals should be. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must get to Grease YTOTIW. See you tomorrow.