PREMIERE.COM'S MOVIE REVIEW (posted 12/27/06)

By now, you've already likely heard about Jennifer Hudson's showstopping rendition of Dreamgirls' signature number, “And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going.” You've also probably read that, contrary to Eddie Murphy's 80s hit song“Party All The Time” and flops like “Pluto Nash,” a star has been reborn. But the reason to see Dreamgirls is what hasn't been advertised - a film that in spite of its shiny veneer actually hits all the high notes through its underlying rawness.

As the rags to riches story of The Supremes-esque girl group The Dreams unspools, we watch a separate but similar fantasy play out in which real dreams have been realized by the film's cast and crew. Hudson is as charmingly green as her diva-in-training Effie White. Murphy wears the wrinkles on his face as world weary singer James “Thunder” Early like badges of honor. And Beyonce Knowles finally finds a way to bring the soul inherent in her music on camera. Add to that writer/director Bill Condon's opportunity to direct a film with a budget almost seven times the budget of his last film, the $12 million Kinsey, and you have a musical that feels fresh out of sheer resourcefulness.

That isn't to put qualifiers on Dreamgirls. As any of its strong-willed women would tell you, it doesn't need any favors. The musical cruises through four decades from the civil rights era of the 1950s through the decadent and post-women's lib 1970s following the rise and eventual fall of The Dreams, their svengali manager Curtis Taylor Jr. (Jamie Foxx), and those that they leave in their wake like Early, who suffers from changing times. The one thing that doesn't seem to change is the unforgiving nature of show business. Dreamgirls may be a product of the same dream factory, but the film version is darker than its theatrical predecessor, giving teeth to Taylor's ruthless machinations and raising the stakes for each character after Hudson's Effie belts out “And I'm Telling You…” at the end of the film's second act.

At times, Dreamgirls is slicker than Condon's last foray into musicals, Chicago, which he wrote, but did not direct, and the film seems to operate more on energy than technique, though Condon's lightning quick entries and exits out of musical numbers suggest a far more difficult job than what's on display. Also to Condon's credit, he doesn't distance himself from the original musical, understanding the late Tom Eyen's lyrics are as true today as they were in the 1980s. And even though this update of Dreamgirls may not hold many surprises, it has earned the satisfaction of a job well done. —Stephen Saito