Oscar talk for Eddie Murphy
By Dwight Brown
NNPA Film Critic
Words of betrayal cut like a knife. In Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, “Et tu, Brute” was as sharp as the daggers plunged into Caesar’s chest. In Dreamgirls, “Effie, Deena’s singing lead,” pierces the heart and leaves a gaping wound.
After years of delays, the Tony-award winning musical Dreamgirls hits the silver screen, and its faux Supremes Diana Ross/Florence Ballard/Mary Wilson-like high drama remains as powerful as ever. The rise and fall of a black girl group, complete with ambitious manager/Svengali (Berry Gordy), is one of the strongest pieces of musical theater ever to grace the Great White Way. The film is even more intense – powerful enough to bring Ballard back from the grave in vindication.
Deena (Beyoncé Knowles), Lorrell (Anika Noni Rose, 2004 Tony award winner for Caroline, Or Change) and Effie (Jennifer Hudson, an American Idol semifinalist with a winner’s voice) are superb as The Dreamettes, three innocent young singers who get their first break when a Cadillac dealer and music mogul-wannabe Curtis (Jamie Foxx), scouts them at a talent show.
The girls’ fortunes grow when they become the backup trio for James “Thunder” Early (Eddie Murphy), a lecherous soul singer. Their mojo is so strong, before you can say “do-wop, do-wop,” Curtis has transformed them into headliners, The Dreams. When he steals Early from his manager (Danny Glover) and breaks the two acts out of the chitlin’ circuit into the mainstream, everyone’s star is on the rise.
Everyone, that is, except Effie. Effie’s big bluesy voice, prickly attitude and her volatile, volcanic mood swings spell trouble. Even courting Curtis can’t save her eventual fall from grace. Deena, Lorrell and Effie’s brother, C.C. (Keith Robinson), the group’s songwriter, turn their backs on her when Curtis utters, “Effie, Deena is singing lead…”
She’s demoted and then tossed out like an old shoe, no matter how fervently she pleads for mercy.
Twenty years later, time has been kind to this classic drama and its indelible characters, as rewritten by director/writer Bill Condon from the original book and lyrics by the late Tom Eyen. Effie, the central protagonist, haughty at first bowed and broken in the end, lets you ride her emotions like a rollercoaster. Drug abuse, out-of-wedlock pregnancies, death, payola, scandal, race relations – and of course, betrayal, are riveting. The dialogue, between songs, reverberates. Curtis to a defiant Deena: “You know why I told you to sing lead? Because your voice has no depth.”
Condon, who also wrote the screenplay for Chicago, gives Dreamgirls its sure-footed rhythm. Well-clipped staccato edits set an engaging pace. Artful close-ups, newsreel footage and signs of the times (including Diana Ross and Motown-styled album covers) provide visual splendor and memorable epochs. Condon directs veterans and ingénues alike with a Midas touch.
Never is the film’s viability questionable, despite characters breaking into song without notice. Song and drama blend well and are some of the best musical moments ever featured in film, especially given the difficulty of the genre. Chicago succeeded. Rent did not. It’s a crapshoot. Condon wins handily.
Dreamgirls has so much star power the wattage could blind you. Knowles plays Deena, the ambitious (yet not heartless) Ross-like icon with alluring feminine wile. Supporting actors including Rose, Robinson and Glover are solid. Vintage footage of Dick Clark and Ed Sullivan and cameos by Loretta Devine (one of Broadway’s original Dreamgirls), and Hinton Battle (another Broadway cast member), are refreshing surprises.
Foxx sneers commercialism and capitalism like a dragon snorting fire. Hudson’s auspicious screen début is assured with her respectful rendition of the tour-de-force “I’m Telling You I’m Not Going,” honoring Jennifer Holiday’s original. A lesser production might have cast some MTV, VH1, or BET starlets who can’t sing but look pretty, but Dreamgirls’ singers’ blow you away – they can blast their voices well beyond the cheap seats.
And Eddie Murphy? The ghosts of Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding and Jackie Wilson inhabit his performance. It’s absolutely haunting. This is Murphy’s finest, most nuanced interpretation, yet. He most certainly deserves an Oscar nod for Best Supporting Actor – and should win.
Rarely have costumer designers, art directors, cinematographers and editors worked so well together. Sharen Davis, Oscar-nominated for her Ray costumes, elevates the art form to new heights with her Supremish gowns and haute ’60s and ‘70s attire. Production Designer John Myhre, Art Director Tomas Voth and Set Decorator Nancy Haigh’s attention to color, shape and texture is impeccable. Sweeping cinematography by Tobias A. Schliessler and taut editing by Virginia Katz complete one of the highest-quality productions in years.
Dreamgirls succeeds on all levels: perfect casting and acting, astute direction, toe-tapping music, stunning images. Dreamgirls hits all the rights notes.
Dreamgirls has not yet opened in St. Louis.