About half an hour into a screening of "Dreamgirls" tonight, I was wondering when I would get to see it again. The Oscar hype is fully justified, up to and including a best picture nomination.

Jennifer Hudson is phenomenal — although, given the size-ism in Hollywood, I worry about how difficult it may be for her to get another role this good. For additional evidence see this profile of Jennifer Holliday, who starred in "Dreamgirls" on Broadway. I remember watching Holliday performing "And I Am Telling You" on TV when "Dreamgirls" was hot and she was transcendent. Hudson comes very close to matching her.

While this is fundamentally Hudson's movie,  I can easily see nominations for Jamie Foxx and Eddie Murphy. Until it has to serve the plot in the second half of the movie, it moves relentlessly. I expect to write a very favorable review.

Qualms: Some of this territory was covered in Robert Townsend's largely overlooked "The Five Heartbeats." Beyonce is appealing but probably too good a singer for her role; the movie makes more sense if her character is really mediocre, but Beyonce's not going to risk her future earnings that way. And the whole this-is-sort-of-but-not-really-the-Supremes really gets pushed to the limit — there are photos of Beyonce that are pure Diana, and at least one Dreams album cover that pretty much replicates one of the Supremes.

But a terrific movie overall. Really can't wait to see it again.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 13th, 2006 at 8:28 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.