What I Rented - Dreamgirls

Dreamgirls has a lot of flash, energy, great music, and riveting scenes. It's an entertaining, fun musical, made with a lot of passion, but by the end, aside from a couple of incredible moments, it makes as much impact as a big budget music video.

It's a simple story, one that has been told many times before. Three girls get their chance to make it big in the music world, but cutthroat business strategies soon have them fighting each other for a shot at fame. As their careers skyrocket, their personal relationships deteriorate and each girl finds that what they truly wanted, they had before all the glitz and glam entered their lives.

Now, much has been written about the star making performance by Jennifer Hudson, as Effie, the slightly overweight lead singer who is tossed aside in favour of the slimmer, but vocally inferior Deena Jones (Beyonce). Hudson is fantastic, and puts everyone in the cast to shame. Everyone else knows the poses, and knows how to look cool while singing, but Hudson loses herself in the music, connecting to the emotion behind the words. There is a ten minute section in the middle of the film, where Effie's life reaches absolute rock bottom, and Hudson belts out And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going with such a wounded passion that it's easy to see why she won the Academy Award. It's an electrifying scene because you know you are watching that old Hollywood cliche moment where the unknown starlet becomes an overnight sensation.

Hudson is the reason this movie works at all.

Eddie Murphy, in his defence, also finds a way to make his one note character seem much deeper than he truly is (which is essentially a womanizing drug addict), but the rest of the cast just gets lost...

Sure, they all have their moments, but Beyonce doesn't even register until 45 minutes in, and the other girl is simply "girl who loves Eddie Murphy's character". Jamie Foxx, while adding a lot of charm early on the film, ends up becoming "rich guy who scowls all the time".

What keeps the film afloat, when Hudson isn't on screen, is the tremendous music which really does provide a thrilling pace and energy level. Dreamgirls also makes some interesting comments about the music industry and the business' preference for catchy tunes rather than songs that truly comment on world issues (a topic that seems particularly relevant in today's superficial marketplace).

It's a solid film, but not a great one, and although Hudson's big scene is an incredible moment, it almost points a finger at everything else that is wrong with the movie. Her performance shows what Dreamgirls could have been had more emphasis been placed on fleshing out the characters, and pushing a game cast to take their musical talents to a new level. It's entertaining, but it should have been unforgettable.

Star Rating *** out of 4