Dreamgirls

Ok so here is what you do if you want to see Dreamgirls but you don't want to be seen going to a Beyonce movie; Step One: Go to your video store Step two: Rent "The Five Heartbeats" Step Three: Imagine the band as girls and that Eddie Caine is Eddy Murphey. Step four: be glad you watched a better movie then Dreamgirls.

See, its not that Dreamgirls is a bad movie, visually, its a great movie, the cast is all strong and everything looks right for the time period its ment to be set in (the early 1960s). But I can't help but think this is really the story of Diana Ross and the Supreames, and kind of told from Diana's point of view, like that TV movie that was made about them like 15 years ago and it pissed off the other girls in the group. That doesn't make it a bad movie, so much as just kind of sad in its lacking in originality and courage to be itself. It really just serves as a forum for Beyonce to sing and look hot, for Jamie Foxx to again attempt to sing like Ray Charles (which is off base from what Jamie's singing was like before the movie Ray btw), but it also gives Jennifer Hudson a chance to shine, which is very good for she is very talented, and it allows Eddie Murphey to remind people that he used to sing too, however, despite his Eddie Cain like looks in this movie, Eddie really does give a good singing performance.

I keep making Eddie Cain referances because of how strongly Eddie resembles the character from The Five Heartbeats of tht name. Dreamgirls has a very Five Heartbeats sort of feel to it, The Five Heartbeats was a movie based on the Temptations for those that don't know, however, where The Five Heartbeats is fair and equil to all sides, Dreamgirls really does give off a more Beyonce over anyone else feel, which is a shame, the rest of this cast is great. Danny Glover reminded me why he still gets work in this. And there are really just so many other great appearances in this I can't really list them all. But, saddly, they're all tucked into Beyonce's shadow, she's always the star and always the most glamourusly done up woman on screen at any time. Her diva-ness is really what killed the movie for me, well that and her acting, the singing was good, the sets and script were great, the rest of the cast, great, but I'm sorry, unless she's got a long hard object infront of her, Beyonce is useless. She can't act at all.

I understand the want to cast a black female that can sing, but my god why Beyonce? why not find an unknown? Or go with a gospel singer? or some other lesser known singer? Someone that deserves the stardom, someone that doesn't stand there with a look thats a mix of "I wanna suck you with my big enhanced to look like Angelinia Jolie's Lips" mixed with dull surprise. We've have Beyonce Knowles tossed at us as a sex object sence she was 17 years old, back when Destiny's Child was its original 5 girl line up, before her ego got bigger then her ghetto booty, and I'm kind of sick of it at this point. Yes, ok, you force her on us as sex symbol but seriously GIVE IT A REST I AM SICK OF SEEING HER EVERYWHERE!! She doesn't deserve to be this famous, she's just a mass marketed premade star that doesn't dserve the stardom she's got. Cast someone else in this role and I would have loved this movie.

So, really I guess its up to you in the end. You can go and watch Dreamgirls which, if you can look past all the downsides of it, isn't a bad movie. Or, you can go and watch The Five Heartbeats and actually be moved by a movie in the same vain that needs more respect then it gets, and you can walk around going "Sure you wanna hang with old Eddie Cain?" to your friends when they ask you if you wanna go do stuff with them that way too. You don't get that kinda coolness from Beyonce in Dreamgirls.

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Laz