I received 3 movie passes in the mail last week to check out Dreamgirls, The Queen and Babel. Thank heaves for the passes. I was especially eager to see DG to see what all the fuss was about but refused to spend 9 dollars to support a movie starring (or not really starring IMO) Beyonce affectionately known as Bianca by moi.
Overall, I was thoroughly entertained by DG from beginning to end. Part of my entertainment was singing along to the soundtrack in my head. Everytime someone started singing I said to myself "hey I know that song." It dawned on me later in the day that I had owned the original soundtrack as a youngster and spent a fair amount of time listening to it back in the day.
Its easy to get lost in the music, the dancing and the costuming in a film like DG. But I was intent on looking beyond that and focusing on the acting. I thought most of the performances were rock solid but there was one glaring weakness. Yea, you know who.
My ratings:
Jamie Foxx: Surprisingly forgettable. There didn't seem to be much depth to the character or performance. I definitely expected much, much more. In fact, I believe he's capable of greater than what he gave us.
Bianca: My internal bad acting meter was quite happy she wasn't in the movie as much as I had anticipated. I didn't expect much from her ( because she's a not an actress) and she didn't disappoint. Contrary to her own beliefs she wasn't very good in the film. I will admit she started off cool in the beginning. My BA meter barely flickered. However, by the movie's end my BA meter was in the dangerous red zone. Alert! Alert! Alert! Bad actor on the screen defiling the craft of acting. As hard as she tried she just didn't make the cut. Bless her heart.
I want somebody to explain to me how she got nominated for a Golden Globe Award. Now, that's just wrong.
On a positive note, she looked great, sang great and she did her thing during the group performance numbers.
Jennifer Hudson: After all the glowing praise I had heard for the last month I was most eager to see her performance. I must say, I was a little disappointed. It wasn't everything I expected it to be. Don't get me wrong she was good but not great. I expected great. I'll honestly be suprised if she wins the oscar. I'm putting my money on another actress in that category.
On a more positive note, JH's performance of And I Am Telling You was the highlight of the film for me. Also, she has great screen presence.
Eddie Murphy: Very entertaining performance. He made me laugh more than a few times. However, felt like I've been there, done that with him. It was missing some depth.
Anika Rose: I'm shocked more people haven't mentioned her. I was pleasantly surprised. Her performance was near flawless.
Danny Glover: Rock solid. Wish I could've seen more of him
DG, like The Wiz, was an instant classic for me. I can't wait for the DVD to hit stores so I can add it to my collection.
6 comments:
I have to agree with your assessments. It was funny to me when Bianca (LOL) was on Ophrah she said, "Now I actually feel like an actress!" when she described her DG experience. Huh? What?
Regarding J-Hud, the And I Am Telling You performance was so strong and so powerful it overshadowed everything else. Her acting was good but that one performance brought it up several notches. I love her.
Jaime could've done better and I thought Eddie is finally getting the recognition he deserves after 25 years of making movies.
I'm glad you finally saw the movie. The SAG awards were on the other night ... how does that work? Is that actors nominating and voting for other actors? Just curious.
It was an instant classic to me too and I think JHud got shouted out because she was "better" than Be. Happy New Year Shawn!
Chele SAG Awards - As far as I know its only actors nominating actors and voting. As it was explained to me, they designate a group of SAG members to the awards nominating committee who are given the task of choosing folks for the categories. They send voting ballots by mail to the entire SAG membership who cast their votes, if they choose.
For me J.Hud's performance was excellent because I just kept thinking how she has never acted before and could go toe to toe with all these veterans.
You're an actor so I know you see it from a whole nother angle.
I'm actually looking forward to seeing this movie. My expectations for Bianca aren't that high so from the sounds of it I won't be pleasantly surprised or too disappointed. I hope to see more of JHud in the limelight. I always liked her. And that girl can sang!
For some reason, I've never ever liked musicals. I don't have any idea why, but since a little kid, I've hated them. I've gone to see a couple in the last 10 years or so, and every time it's like nails on a chalk board. But everyone I know keeps telling me to go see this movie...I dunno. Normally, I'd go see it because you liked it and I usually have similar taste as you, but I just dunno about DG.
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