Tracing the rise of the Motown scene while taking a sideways look at the rise of the African American from 1962 the Broadway show Dreamgirls on screen brings on the glitz and glamour through the girl trio Dreamers.
The costumes that are slinky and elegant on Deena [Beyonce Knowles}], Effie (Jennifer Hudson) as the replaceable third Lorrell [Anika Noni Rose] of the trio belie the artifice for behind the scens is the machinations of snake oil salesman Curtis Taylor, Jr. [Jamie Foxx] who connives to shove Effie [Jennifer Hudson] out of the lead of the ex-Dreamettes who under his guidance become the backup group Dreams to Eddie Murphy's James "Thunder" Early, a glitzy glamour character who belies the likes of Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis.
While trying to trace the rise and fall of Motown and the ill-disguised Supremes in the 60s and 70s and on the side the black power movement and civil rights, Dreamgirls proves to be a shallow movie and ultimately, the whole of this Christmas release Dreamgirls leaves a bad candy taste in the mouth and a wish you could get the more than two hours of your life back. Bad dreams are made of this.
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