# Dreamgirls: The Movie (Plus Nitpick About TV Ad) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 28, 2006, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dreamgirls-the-movie-plus-nitpick-about-tv-ad/385892 "2006-12-28T19:21:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2006, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dreamgirls-the-movie-plus-nitpick-about-tv-ad/385892/1 "2006-12-28T19:21:44Z")
The film, Dreamgirls opened on Christmas - has anyone seen it yet? I am hoping to go today, or tomorrow - it has good “buzz” and has been nominated for several Golden Globes. Let me know what you thought of the film if you have seen it. BTW, a little nitpick on their current television ad: **WINNER** of **GOLDEN GLOBE** nominations, including **BEST FILM**! Since when do you “win” a _nomination_? I mean - you are nominated or you aren’t. Is this a case of trying to intentionally mislead the public into thinking this film has already won the award, or am I reading too much into it? ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2006, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dreamgirls-the-movie-plus-nitpick-about-tv-ad/385892/2 "2006-12-28T20:38:00Z")
I saw it. It was nice, but I’m not sure why it was nominated for best picture (of course, I don’t do movies often. Maybe this was a particularly mediocre year). The actress/supporting actress decisions also don’t make sense. (If anything, the story was more about the supporting actress than the actress and the former had more lines and screen time, too.) There were a couple of places where the director didn’t quite know what to do - but did have to put the song or the line or the scene in somehow, and it shows. Most of the acting was pretty ok, Eddie Murphy was quite good as was the non-name Dreamette, and it was worth the price of admission. ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2006, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dreamgirls-the-movie-plus-nitpick-about-tv-ad/385892/3 "2006-12-28T21:46:03Z")
[QUOTE=DMark] BTW, a little nitpick on their current television ad: **WINNER** of **GOLDEN GLOBE** nominations, including **BEST FILM**! Since when do you “win” a _nomination_? I mean - you are nominated or you aren’t. Is this a case of trying to intentionally mislead the public into thinking this film has already won the award, or am I reading too much into it? [/QUOTE] Not to say the ad wasn’t misleading, but I was under the impression that being a nominee for an award was an honor in itself, albeit a minor one compared to actually winning the award. I can think of several awards where being nominated for it will get you named as “[award]-nominee/finalist [name].” ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dreamgirls-the-movie-plus-nitpick-about-tv-ad/385892/4 "2006-12-29T00:46:51Z")
Most of the complaints I’ve heard is that the music is pretty awful–and a musical about music with bad music . . . Well, maybe it worked better on Broadway. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dreamgirls-the-movie-plus-nitpick-about-tv-ad/385892/5 "2006-12-29T02:10:54Z")
[QUOTE=DMark] BTW, a little nitpick on their current television ad: **WINNER** of **GOLDEN GLOBE** nominations, including **BEST FILM**! Since when do you “win” a _nomination_? I mean - you are nominated or you aren’t. Is this a case of trying to intentionally mislead the public into thinking this film has already won the award, or am I reading too much into it? [/QUOTE] Someone asked Roger Ebert about this once. The idea is probably to fool people into thinking that the film has already won the award. Ebert joked that it also looks better in print than “GOT! Five Golden Globe nominations!” ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dreamgirls-the-movie-plus-nitpick-about-tv-ad/385892/6 "2006-12-29T04:42:03Z")
[QUOTE=amarinth] The actress/supporting actress decisions also don’t make sense. (If anything, the story was more about the supporting actress than the actress and the former had more lines and screen time, too.) [/QUOTE] _Dreamgirls_, both stage and screen versions, is about Effie. It’s ALL about Effie. Hudson, despite the fact that she’s not the big name in the credits, is THE star of the film, because Effie is the protagonist, no matter that she’s not the ultimate star of the Dreams. Beyonce can only dream of having the pipes that Hudson has… ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dreamgirls-the-movie-plus-nitpick-about-tv-ad/385892/7 "2006-12-29T05:03:00Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] _Dreamgirls_, both stage and screen versions, is about Effie. It’s ALL about Effie. Hudson, despite the fact that she’s not the big name in the credits, is THE star of the film, because Effie is the protagonist, no matter that she’s not the ultimate star of the Dreams. Beyonce can only dream of having the pipes that Hudson has… [/QUOTE] That’s what I mean - Hudson is up for Best Supporting Actress, Knowles is up for Best Actress. Given that Hudson is much more the center of the film, it seems to me that those nominations should be switched. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dreamgirls-the-movie-plus-nitpick-about-tv-ad/385892/8 "2006-12-29T05:16:47Z")
[QUOTE=amarinth] That’s what I mean - Hudson is up for Best Supporting Actress, Knowles is up for Best Actress. Given that Hudson is much more the center of the film, it seems to me that those nominations should be switched. [/QUOTE] I agree with that completely. But Hudson isn’t “the name”. Knowles is. And in the movie game, “the name” is the star. Even when she isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dreamgirls-the-movie-plus-nitpick-about-tv-ad/385892/9 "2006-12-29T06:52:55Z")
I saw it too. The story, which I didn’t know going in to the movie, was very enjoyable, but I don’t much care for that style of music (showstopping belters). I liked Jimmy Early’s music best, that James Brown-ish style (and yeah, Eddie Murphy was great). I did like that new song that Knowles sang, “Listen” (I know it’s new because it’s eligible for an Oscar nomination) most likely because of the strong context. I’d heard snippets of that one song “And I Am Telling You That This Is A Long-Ass Stupid Title For A Freaking Song” several times (cultural osmosis) but only once in its entierty, when a talented little girl sang it on Leno (and seemed to be sending Arsenio Hall into spasms of pleasure). Now having seen it in the movie, oh my lord, what a pathetic song! I don’t mean it’s a bad song, I can hardly judge that. And it was sung well (I can recognize talent), but seeing what the song was _about, in context_ is what made it pathetic. At the time, it was horrific seeing Effie groveling to this dickwad who hurt her so much. It did take on extra context later in the film so if I saw the movie again, it would probably be more poignant than scornworthy. I agree that the movie was all about Effie. This was my first exposure to Jennifer Hudson and she was terrific! The theater was PACKED! And it was our second try because the first time we went it was sold out. [QUOTE=amarinth] It was nice, but I’m not sure why it was nominated for best picture (of course, I don’t do movies often. Maybe this was a particularly mediocre year). [/QUOTE] It was a pretty good year for movies. The Golden Globes are different from the Oscars in several ways, one of them being having two separate Best Picture categories, one for Drama and one for Musical or Comedy. Of course it was going to be nominated for Musical/Comedy. This year’s Golden Globe Best Picture nominees (a copy and paste, I didn’t cap these): **BEST MOTION PICTURE - DRAMA** BABEL BOBBY THE DEPARTED LITTLE CHILDREN THE QUEEN **BEST MOTION PICTURE - COMEDY OR MUSICAL** BORAT: CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICA FOR MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA DREAMGIRLS LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE THANK YOU FOR SMOKING ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2006, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dreamgirls-the-movie-plus-nitpick-about-tv-ad/385892/10 "2006-12-30T05:31:45Z")
Well, I just got back from an almost sold-out showing of the film and I liked it a lot! I normally am not a big Eddie Murphey fan of late, but he did a great (underplayed) job in this film. Jamie Foxx was also excellent, as well as Beyonce - but hands down, this was Jennifer Hudson’s film. From being just one of the unknowns on American Idol, to a loser on American Idol, she knocked this part out of the park, and then some. There were cheers in the audience when she finished singing “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going”. Got me to thinking - Just like Liza has been singing Cabaret for over 30 years, and Judy Garland sang Somewhere Over The Rainbow for her entire career, Ms. Hudson is going to be singing that song now for the rest of her life…and this song ain’t no piece of cake - it will be a miracle if she doesn’t die of a brain embolism on stage after performing it every night for the next few decades. At any rate - put me down as a big fan of this movie version of Dreamgirls, and I will be buying the DVD of the film when it comes out. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dreamgirls-the-movie-plus-nitpick-about-tv-ad/385892/11 "2007-01-03T18:29:57Z")
I saw this a couple of days ago. I usually hate movie musicals but this was more than tolerable. I think it helped that most of the songs take place on stage rather than involving people just picking up and singing in the streets. Eddie Murphy was terriffic but J-Hud – holy shit. Her performance of “And I am Telling You” just blew the doors off. I knew she had pipes from AI but I never saw her put that kind of emotion into anything she sang on Idol. The fact that her singing is good enough to take your attention off Beyonce’s caboose is enough to merit an Oscar all by itself. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2007, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dreamgirls-the-movie-plus-nitpick-about-tv-ad/385892/12 "2007-01-07T01:58:29Z")
[QUOTE=DMark] At any rate - put me down as a big fan of this movie version of Dreamgirls, and I will be buying the DVD of the film when it comes out. [/QUOTE] Ditto and ditto. Saw it tonight, and liked it a lot. I’m always worried going into a two-hour-plus movie that it will be too long, but I didn’t think this was at all. Eddie Murphy was outstanding – did he really do his own singing? I was really knocked out by how well they nailed each and every year in the costumes, etc. And the cast was all excellent – including the guy who played JJ, and Danny Glover. The large theater was pretty crowded, and seeing it with a primarily black audience was definitely the way to go. The whole theater totally cracked up when they cut to the white version of the Cadillac song being done on “Bandstand.” ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2007, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dreamgirls-the-movie-plus-nitpick-about-tv-ad/385892/13 "2007-01-19T04:26:24Z")
[QUOTE=twickster] The large theater was pretty crowded, and seeing it with a primarily black audience was definitely the way to go. The whole theater totally cracked up when they cut to the white version of the Cadillac song being done on “Bandstand.” [/QUOTE] Bump (rather than start another thread on DREAMGIRLS). When I saw the movie they cracked up even more when Jimmy takes back his soul and drops his pants which was admittedly a fantastic moment. There is NO reason for Eddie Murphy not to get an Academy Award nomination for this. He was great as a dramatic actor, believable as an ahead-of-his-time funk showman, you really felt for the character during his rich-but-miserable-sellout older scenes, and of course his comic moments were, well, to quote Jimmy Early to Effie’s backup singing, “Shit! I _knew_ you’d have it!” (While I wasn’t a huge fan of the Nutty Professor movies I thought that he should have been nominated for at least the first one; I don’t think many Academy voters appreciate how hard it is to be funny under that miserable make-up {ever worn a latex mask? smells like sulfur and itches, and for Murphy it took hours of sitting still to apply} or to do that many characters, all of them hysterical.) Agree with all that’s been said on Jennifer Hudson. She’s possibly the greatest talent ever to emerge from AMERICAN IDOL and I think it’s probably to her benefit that she didn’t win. Since unfortunately there just aren’t that many roles for overweight black actresses, no matter how talented, I hope she’ll go into music more than bad comedies or, God forbid, bad sitcoms. I liked the movie a lot overall. I had never seen the stage show so I don’t know how much it deviated, but my main complaints were: \*The ending was a little too happy for Effie and the other Dreams (plus it’s based, however loosely, on The Supremes and Diana Ross certainly never got her soul back); I just don’t think that a cutthroat businessman in a cutthroat industry would have taken it lying down like Curtis did \*The transition from movie with musical numbers to movie musical was very awkward. For almost half the movie the only time you have splashy production numbers is when the characters are performing or rehearsing, then all of a sudden an hour into the movie Effie and her brother start singing, Curtis joins in and it takes a moment to remember “oh yeah, this isn’t really a song within the movie but a musical number…” \*Little details bugged me. I can easily fathom, for example, that Deena may not have any contact with Effie for years after the break-up, but it would be almost impossible to believe she wouldn’t even know Effie had a child, regardless of whether or not she knew its paternity as you’d think this would have appeared in magazines and newspapers and “where are they now?” items than they had even in the 1970s. Overall though it’s worth full admission price and Jennifer Hudson did to this role what Cummings did for the emcee in CABARET or Catherine Zeta Jones did for Velma Kelly- she makes you forget that another actress was legendary in the role and totally owns it. I don’t know that she deserves an Oscar but a nomination would be justified, and for Eddie the competition would have to be awesome not to justify a win. I hope he’ll move more into dramatic roles as I think he’s an incredible talent who’s been wasting himself almost like Jimmy Early for the last few years. - ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2007, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dreamgirls-the-movie-plus-nitpick-about-tv-ad/385892/14 "2007-01-19T12:01:12Z")
[QUOTE=Sampiro] …There is NO reason for Eddie Murphy not to get an Academy Award nomination for this. He was great as a dramatic actor, believable as an ahead-of-his-time funk showman, you really felt for the character during his rich-but-miserable-sellout older scenes, and of course his comic moments were, well, to quote Jimmy Early to Effie’s backup singing, “Shit! I _knew_ you’d have it!” {snip} I don’t know that she [Jennifer Hudson] deserves an Oscar but a nomination would be justified, and for Eddie the competition would have to be awesome not to justify a win. I hope he’ll move more into dramatic roles as I think he’s an incredible talent who’s been wasting himself almost like Jimmy Early for the last few years. - [/QUOTE] Saw an ad on TV the other night for Eddie’s latest film – another one of those latex-based comedies … and thought, damn, that’s so sad… ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2007, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dreamgirls-the-movie-plus-nitpick-about-tv-ad/385892/15 "2007-01-19T12:16:07Z")
[QUOTE=Eve] Most of the complaints I’ve heard is that the music is pretty awful–and a musical about music with bad music . . . Well, maybe it worked better on Broadway. [/QUOTE] It worked for _The Sound of Music_. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2007, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dreamgirls-the-movie-plus-nitpick-about-tv-ad/385892/16 "2007-01-19T14:13:36Z")
Now they are hyping it as WINNER of the GOLDEN GLOBE FOR BEST PICTURE comedy/musical ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2007, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dreamgirls-the-movie-plus-nitpick-about-tv-ad/385892/17 "2007-01-19T14:24:23Z")
Saw it last weekend, and mostly liked it, although it seemed to drag a bit once it got into the late '60s and even more so in the Disco era. Jennifer Hudson _does_ have a great voice, and her and Beyonce’s Golden Globe nominations really ought to have been swapped. I wholeheartedly agree with **Equipoise** that, in context, her showstopper “And I Am Telling You” is pathetic. (Mrs. Heir and I both turned to each other in the theater and :rolleyes: at each other during that scene). Eddie Murphy ruled as a young James Brown clone! Some of his best work in years. The costumes, sets and cinematography were all outstanding. Mrs. Heir and I saw it with a virtually all-white crowd, and _we_ all guffawed to see the “Cadillac” song sung by a Pat Boone-esque singer, too. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2007, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dreamgirls-the-movie-plus-nitpick-about-tv-ad/385892/18 "2007-01-19T19:58:44Z")
I thought Jennifer H. _nailed_ “And I Am Telling You…” as a singer. It’s the song itself I have problems with- it’s up there with Tammy Wynette’s _Til I Can Make it on my Own_ or _I Can’t Live if Living is Without You_ or _As Long As He Needs Me_ in the all time great defeatist pathetic songs. And of course Eddie’s been rehearsing as Brown for more than [twenty](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51-FcNSDGKw)[years](http://www.pistolwimp.com/media/42712/) or more. ---
**Author:** ![flickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7bcc69/32.png) [@flickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flickster)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2007, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dreamgirls-the-movie-plus-nitpick-about-tv-ad/385892/19 "2007-01-28T22:24:42Z")
We just took an opportunity to view this this afternoon. I liked the movie and the music. Eddie Muphy is the shiznit 🆒 The only problem I had was that I kept thinking I was watching a Diana Ross and The Supremes documentary…