Danielle Blog

Dreamgirls

In lieu of typical TV shows, I watched Dreamgirls last night on HBO On Demand. This is another movie that I highly recommend. I’ve always been a fan of groups like the Supremes and the Temptations. There is just something so classy about the way they danced and sang as a group. And of course, they had beautiful harmonies. I should probably buy a Supremes greatest hits album.

Anyway, the movie is wonderfully cast. I had no idea Eddie Murphy could sing the way he does, but he is perfect for this James Brown type of character. And the Dreams – Beyonce was awesome. She has such a terrific voice. And she does a really great job acting in this movie. Jennifer Hudson was impressive in her singing and acting, but I have to say that I like her acting better than her singing. She is one of those singers who does a lot of ad libbing, where the notes waver and waffle up and down in this attempt to be dramatic. But I’m not into dramatic singing with a lot of ad libbing. She has a great voice, but I’d be more into her singing if she stayed on the note more and did a little less dramatic variation. That said, she really pulls off her character.

It was particularly fun to feel like I was getting this backstage look into the music business. It was enlightening to see how R&B musicians had issues with white pop groups stealing their music, and how difficult it was for them to cross over into the realm of pop.

I do have a wee story to tell that popped into my head when I was watching this. So when I was in Texas, we turned on the Sound of Music while it was in progress. It just so happened to be on the scene where Maria comes back to Captain Von Trapp after she had run away to the Abbey, and they are in the gazebo. Maria and he have this duet, but we happened to be on the part where she is singing at him for an extended period of time and he is standing there listening. At that moment, Trainwreck says to Texas Seestor something along the lines of, “If you ever feel the need to stand and sing at me for an extended period of time, please warn me.” I’m not sure I’m getting it exactly right, but the way he said it was quite funny.
And as it turns out, Dreamgirls has a similar scene. Except in the case of Dreamgirls, the song goes on for this really long time and the guy just stands there looking concerned for most of it while she is emoting and putting her hands on his shoulders and basically in his face while singing this really dramatic song. That scene made me smile, because if Trainwreck thought the scene with Maria and the Captain was bad, I’d love to see his reaction to this one.

All in all though, I highly recommend this one if you are into girl-group music. Even if you are not, you’d probably still enjoy it. The music is excellent, the acting is top notch, the choreography is captivating, and the costumes are just amazing.