Dreamgirls (PG)
Jamie Foxx/Beyonce Knowles/Eddie Murphy/Jennifer Hudson/130 minutes
This adaptation of the Tony award-winning Broadway musical by Bill Condon features meticulously-reproduced song and dance routines from the 1960s and1970s, spanning the gamut from doo-wop to disco.
But in spite of that, or perhaps because of it, the movie feels sluggish. The musical numbers put a brake on the narrative instead of moving it along.
Loosely based on music superstars The Supremes, the movie features a bravura performance from Hudson as Effie White, a talented but prickly singer who gets dropped from the group.
Beyonce, on the other hand, doesn’t even get a chance to bust a lung until late in the movie with the song Listen.
The DVD extras include extended and alternate versions of the musical numbers as well as a music video of Listen.
In the unlikely event that you’re not sated by the movie itself, these should do the trick.
The most interesting of the lot is an alternate version of Steppin’ To The Bad Side sung by three male characters, a welcome change from the numbers sung by a trio of women.
There’s also a snappy account of how ambitious record executive Curtis Taylor,Jr (Foxx) will do whatever it takes to get his music onto the airwaves.
(ST)