OK then, what can we say about Dreamgirls? Well it's the story of a trio of singers growing up in Detroit in the 50's and 60's and trying to make their way into the big time.
After trying out at many auditions, they bump into Curtis Taylor Jr (Jamie Foxx), who promises them the big time, but only if they start at the bottom and do backing vocals for James 'Thunder' Early, played by the inimitable Eddie Murphy, who is one of the saving graces for this movie. And yes he can really sing.
What follows is the story of how they progress from backing singers, to big time recording artists, charting the highs, the lows, the break ups and the getting back together again's.
It is a fairly predictable story, so much so that I guessed one of the characters would die, I shan't tell you which one though!
Beyoncé Knowles puts in a great performance as Deena Jones, who eventually becomes the lead singer of "The Dreams", but at the cost of a long friendship, as Effie White who clearly has the better voice is relegated to backing vocals. Effie is played by Jennifer Hudson and is a great singer and ideal for this part.
Other notable stars are Danny Glover, who plays Jimmy Early's first manager; Marty Madison. And Keith Robinson as C.C. White, Effie's Brother and The Dreams' songwriter. The third member of The Dreams is played by Anika Noni Rose who is the youngest member; Lorrell Robinson.
There's also a cameo appearance from John Lithgow.
Anyway, back to the movie, it is a film adaptation of a Broadway musical, and it started off OK, there was dialogue for the talking bits and there were songs where there should be singing, but then about a third of the way into the movie, it went all musical and they started to sing the dialogue, which spoilt it a bit for us. Yes, we should have been prepared for this, but when you have a music biopic, is there a real need to have sung dialogue as well? We get enough singing with the songs, surely?
Anyway, it is a good film, the storyline is a bit thin, but if you like R&B and soul music then it is a great one to watch. It also finishes as one would expect with a happy ending, but it takes awhile to get there.
Well worth a viewing if you haven't seen it, check out some trailers first though!
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