Movies
Generic Hollywood musical. The most damning thing about Dreamgirls is that it actually sounds like a generic musical too, even though it's supposed to be about black music. Apparently there's something about that Broadway musical sound that's very hard to shake off, even when a film's all about soul and R&B. The plot's a rather banal rise and fall story about a trio of girls who are discovered by a car salesman who wants to make it big in the music business. The man has a knack for spotting marketable formulas and within no time the girls are successful, but when he starts putting money before his artists things slowly go awry. The performances are decent, but the music is pretty bland and the film lacks the glitz and glamour of a great musical. It feels a little like watching a basic biopic with some songs thrown in just because the film deals with recording artists. Not that I was expecting a lot from Dreamgirls, but this could've easily been much better.Read all
