Dreamgirls review

For Jennifer Hudson, who plays Effie Melody White, the story of Dreamgirls has more than a passing resemblance to her own life. A losing finalist in American Idol, Hudson's powerful voice and personality are the brightest thing in this polished but predictable musical. Based on this screen debut, Hudson is unquestionably set for a big future. Blindingly vivid, Dreamgirls is as colourful to look at as its story is drab. Adapted from the award-winning Broadway musical, director Bill Condon has captured the sparkle and glitz of the stage show, but the exuberant energy is missing.

If this was a vehicle for Beyoncé to show off her talent and establish herself as a movie star, then she succeeds in the former but fails in the latter. For all her undoubted beauty, there doesn't seem to be much going on behind on those big gorgeous eyes. She lacks the charisma and presence of Hudson, who steals the show.

Following the recent spate of screen adaptations, Dreamgirls inevitably draws comparisons with Chicago, but while vocally the performers in Dreamgirls are stronger, the material they have to work with is infinitely weaker. Only Hudson's emotional rendition of 'And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going' is memorable. The transition from speaking to song is often a difficult one to make and can be a determining factor in a musical's success. Too often in Dreamgirls that shift is clumsy and grating. At times even the actors appear uncertain of how to play it.

The story of Dreamgirls is the thinly veiled tale of Diana Ross and The Supremes with Beyoncé's Deena Jones representing Ross. Starting out as The Dreamettes, the trio of Deena, Effie and Lorrell Robinson (Anika Noni Rose) are taken under the controlling wing of Curtis Taylor, Jr. (Jamie Foxx) who books them as back-up singers to James 'Thunder' Early (Eddie Murphy), a womanizing, bouffanted James Brown-like figure. The ambitious Taylor sees how the industry and audiences of the sixties favours a more palatable white look and sound, so relaunches the girls as the Dreams and shifts Deena to the front, putting the superior singer Effie in the back, much to her chagrin. Success follows swiftly, but when focus falls increasingly on Deena's, the resentful Effie leaves.

Set during the height of the civil unrest in America, Dreamgirls makes the occasional token reference to the political situation, but the incongruous scene with Taylor and Effie having a heated discussion in the street, all but oblivious to the full-scale riots going on around them, is risible.

The plot plays out as expected, offering little in the way of twists. In truth it's a story that's been told a million times before, but Dreamgirls, like most musicals, isn't so much about the story as it is about the music, which in this case is primarily the problem.

Kevin Murphy