I went to watch Dreamgirls last night.Knowing the 3 Oscar awards winning and the number of famous actors playing,I was expecting a better movie,But it was just a serial song performance with a very weak script behind it.
And the more strange part was Jennifer Hudson who won the supporting actress awards and I beleive she was playing in leading role!!!!
Anyway,
If you like to listen some not very good music for almost 2 hrs continously and nothing more,then I suggest you to watch this movie.....
Read below if you need further information:
The film begins in Detroit, Michigan in 1962, as an amateur African-American girl group known as The Dreamettes enter a talent competition at the Detroit Theater. Backstage, the three girls — full-figured lead singer Effie White (Jennifer Hudson), Deena Jones (Beyoncé Knowles) and Lorrell Robinson (Anika Noni Rose) — meet Curtis Taylor, Jr. (Jamie Foxx), an ambitious Cadillac dealer with plans of breaking into the music business. Placing himself as their manager, Curtis arranges for the Dreamettes to tour as backup for a regional R&B star, James "Thunder" Early (Eddie Murphy), by striking a deal with Jimmy's manager Marty (Danny Glover). The tour takes Jimmy and the girls across the country on the chitlin' circuit.
Hoping to help Jimmy and the girls cross over to mainstream audiences, Curtis starts his own record label, Rainbow Records ("The Sound of Tomorrow"), out of his car dealership's office, and makes Effie's brother C.C. (Keith Robinson) his head songwriter. However, when Rainbow's first single fails after a white pop group releases a cover version, Curtis, his sidekick Wayne (Hinton Battle), and C.C. turn to payola. By paying the right people, Curtis manages to get Jimmy and the Dreamettes to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 and into a headlining gig at the Apollo Theater. Offstage, Effie is quickly becoming infatuated with the slick-talking Curtis, and Jimmy - a married man - begins an adulterous affair with Lorrell, who becomes equally as lovesick as Effie.
Marty grows weary of Curtis' plans to make Jimmy's image and sound more pop-friendly, to the point that he walks out on Jimmy. However, when Curtis finds that he cannot completely remake Jimmy into a pop act, he shifts his attention back to the Dreamettes. Feeling that Effie's voice is too "special" and her figure too large to attract white audiences, Curtis appoints the slimmer Deena as the lead singer of the Dreamettes.
With the aid of new songs and a new more glamorous image, Curtis and C.C. transform The Dreamettes into The Dreams, a top selling pop act whose popularity comes to rival that of The Beatles by 1965. However, the betrayed Effie does not take kindly to being reduced to Deena's backup, and begins acting out, becoming even more unruly when Curtis's affections also turn towards Deena. When Effie, feeling ill, does not turn up to rehearse for the Dreams' Las Vegas debut, Curtis replaces Effie with his secretary, Michelle Morris (Sharon Leal). Effie, who has just learned she is pregnant, arrives at the Caesar's Palace venue to discover Michelle has replaced her, and after a nearly violent argument, finds herself without her group, without her brother, and without Curtis.
The film jumps ahead to 1973. Effie is broke (having fallen into alcoholism after being fired from the Dreams), and is raising her eight-year-old daughter Magic (Mariah I. Wilson) alone on welfare in the burnt-out inner city of Detroit. On the other hand, Rainbow Records has moved to Los Angeles, where it prospers with Deena Jones & the Dreams - as the group is now known - and many other pop acts. Curtis and Deena are now married, and, wanting to expand the Rainbow empire into film, Curtis plans to have the unwilling Deena star in a blaxploitation musical version of Cleopatra. Hoping that the struggling film project will never get off the ground, Deena begins secretly meeting with other studios to take a part in another film.
Though still part of the Rainbow roster, Jimmy Early's star has long faded, and Curtis has little interest in revitalizing his career. Unsatisfied with both his wife Melba (Dawnn Lewis) and his long-term mistress Lorrell, Jimmy turns to drugs for affection. C.C., although in an ironic relationship with Michelle, continues to reach out to Effie, who stubbornly ignores the letters and money he sends. Eventually, Effie swallows her pride and, with Marty as her manager, returns to singing and secures gigs at a small Detroit club.
In 1974, Rainbow Records hosts a tenth anniversary TV special featuring its roster of stars. Midway through his performance of a pop-friendly love song, Jimmy breaks out into a wild James Brown-esque funk number and drops his pants on live TV. Curtis resultantly terminates Jimmy's contract, and Lorrell, weary of their eight-year affair, leaves Jimmy behind as well. Some time later, Jimmy dies of a heroin overdose.
Angry over Jimmy's death and frustrated with Curtis' attempts to "drain the soul" out of his music to create a "new sound" (disco), C.C. walks out on Rainbow Records, going back to Detroit to find Effie. The two siblings reconcile at a wake for Jimmy and work together to produce Effie's comeback single, "One Night Only". Just as the record begins gaining radio play, however, Curtis strikes. Using payola, he forces radio DJs to play a disco cover of "One Night Only" by Deena Jones & the Dreams instead of Effie's original.
Curtis has also learned of Deena's covert meetings with other film producers, and asserts his control over his wife. Rebuffed, Deena sneaks into Curtis' office and unwittingly discovers information about Curtis' payola schemes and how he stopped Effie's record. She calls Effie and C.C., who arrive at the Rainbow offices with Marty and a lawyer. As Deena and Effie reconcile, Curtis works out a deal with the lawyer to avoid being reported to the FBI for payola: Rainbow Records will fund a new label for C.C., which will allow Effie's record national distribution. Curtis confronts Deena, only to find that Effie's victory has inspired Deena to leave Curtis and make it on her own.
As a result, Deena Jones & the Dreams give a farewell performance at the Detroit Theater. At the conclusion of the concert, Effie joins Deena, Lorrell, and Michelle onstage, and the reunited Dreams give one final performance of their signature song, "Dreamgirls". Fittingly, it is Effie who sings lead, while the other three ladies sing back-up. As the concert ends, Curtis takes notice of Magic in the front row, and realizes that he is the girl's father.
