It compares to that other "legitimate" musical smash of recent vintage, Chicago. It just doesn't have the life or fun of Chicago.
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Dreamgirls
Overview
A trio of female soul singers cross over to the pop charts in the early 1960s, facing their own personal struggles along the way.
Director and cast
- Bill Condon Director
- Beyoncé as Deena Jones
- Eddie Murphy as James 'Thunder' Early
- Jennifer Hudson as Effie White
- Jamie Foxx as Curtis Taylor Jr.
- Danny Glover as Marty Madison
- Anika Noni Rose as Lorrell Robinson
- Keith D. Robinson as C.C. White
- Sharon Leal as Michelle Morris
- Hinton Battle as Wayne
- Mariah Iman Wilson Cast
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
The opening rump-shaking immediately sets the tone: Dreamgirls pulses with sheer exuberance. When was the last time a musical, much less a huge Hollywood production, felt this alive?
It reserves singing and dancing for the stage until Jamie Foxx just randomly bursts into verse while strolling down the street. Dreamgirls wants to be Effie but ends up as Deena: thin, smooth, unburdened by a personality.
Watching Dreamgirls on the big screen feels like an event somehow. Maybe it's the conviction and passion that the actors bring to their roles.
Dreamgirls is the entire musical package, a triumph of old school on-screen glamour, and we wouldn't want it any other way.
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