Dreamgirls 2006

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: This glitzy, infectious and unusually heartfelt musical doesn't always hang together as a satisfying narrative -- too many characters compete for too little screen time -- but its pleasures are numerous enough to override its flaws. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Condon knew what he wanted, and got it: a smooth, shiny showbiz fable. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: There's so much excitement around the opening of Dreamgirls... that I know I'm going to bring down the room by saying I think it's just okay. Well, Jennifer Hudson is more than okay. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: Flashy, flamboyant and ferocious, Dreamgirls is just plain socko! Read more

Albert Williams, Chicago Reader: Elegiac, filthy-minded, unsparing, and as deeply moving as you'd expect from any de facto story of Peter O'Toole's life. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: When Jennifer Hudson sings, all's right with the world. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Dreamgirls wraps you up in its music, like a velvet coat of sound, and when it's over you feel warmed, happy and thoroughly entertained. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: My guess is that fans of the musical will love it. But it's a little short on heart and soul, and it is deeply conventional. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Dreamgirls is like a really fabulous party. The next morning, you don't remember anything special that happened, but you know you had a blast. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: [Director] Condon paints with such broad, familiar strokes that the film feels generic; in setting out to tell everyone's story, Condon ends up telling no one's. Read more

Bill Muller, Arizona Republic: How many of us have a chance to visit Broadway and see an A-quality show? That's the experience with Dreamgirls, and there's something to be said for it. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Any director hoping to capture racism, catfights, and urban decay with music this square, and filmmaking this haphazard, is a fool. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Dreamgirls is the entire musical package, a triumph of old school on-screen glamour, and we wouldn't want it any other way. Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: Joy is defined as Dreamgirls, an ecstatic dose of pure top-down Motown tight-harmony effervescence that takes a hit Broadway musical about a Chicago girl group and turns it, miraculously, into a Hollywood delight. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: An "American Idol" rejectee with no prior screen experience, [Jennifer Hudson's] presence in this film is itself the stuff that musical dreams are made of. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: It's fun. It's candy. With colorful costumes, often effervescent tunes (the original production's Henry Krieger wrote four new ones), it's a champagne cocktail. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Dreamgirls is a knockout, no two ways about it, a sizzling adaptation of the successful Broadway musical that is bound to leave audiences howling with pleasure. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Dreamgirls is the rare movie musical with real rapture in it. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: Condon has gotten terrific performances from almost everyone here. Knowles lives up to the promise she's shown in her earlier big-screen warm-ups. And Hudson proves to be as good in her dramatic scenes as she is in the musical ones. Read more

Lawson Taitte, Dallas Morning News: Dreamgirls sizzles most of the time, giving us a slightly Broadway-ized look at an important part of the history of American pop music. Read more

Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly: With a star turn like that at its center, a movie doesn't need too much more, but Dreamgirls has plenty to go around. Its sense of showmanship is overflowing. Read more

Jan Stuart, Newsday: The corn may be as high as Beyonce Knowles' gravity-defying wigs, but you'll be so carried away by the penny-arcade clamor of light, rhythm and song, you really won't care. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Film director Bill Condon keeps that story on track, while cramming the screen with wonderful visual touches. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: When she sings 'And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going' -- one of the most heartfelt cries of pain ever written for a musical -- Hudson inscribes her name on an Oscar. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: I have to admit that the film's spectacular performances and production values will blow you away much of the time -- and for that, Mr. Condon and his many colleagues deserve to be commended. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: It compares to that other "legitimate" musical smash of recent vintage, Chicago. It just doesn't have the life or fun of Chicago. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Dreamgirls is a wonderful entertainment: a musical that, while not skimping on the music, delivers a multi-layered storyline featuring complex characters. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: This baby dazzles like nothing else anywhere. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: It's a product that promises magic, and yet gives us nothing to live on. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: I've been going to the movies a long time. This is the first time I ever saw people sit during the closing credits, just so they could cheer when a performer's name came up. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: Watching Dreamgirls on the big screen feels like an event somehow. Maybe it's the conviction and passion that the actors bring to their roles. Read more

Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times: As much as I appreciated the performances from the terrifically talented cast -- as much as I liked Dreamgirls -- I didn't love it. Maybe it was just a little too slick and over the top for its own good. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: This is the first important movie musical in decades about African-Americans and the first to deal with the revolution in civil rights and the mainstream success of black pop music. Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: Dreamgirls may come up short in terms of originality and killer songs, but it wears its big, drippy camp heart on its sleeve. Read more

TIME Magazine: It's great to see a movie musical with a smart sense of the genre. Read more

David Jenkins, Time Out: It reserves singing and dancing for the stage until Jamie Foxx just randomly bursts into verse while strolling down the street. Dreamgirls wants to be Effie but ends up as Deena: thin, smooth, unburdened by a personality. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: The opening rump-shaking immediately sets the tone: Dreamgirls pulses with sheer exuberance. When was the last time a musical, much less a huge Hollywood production, felt this alive? Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Jennifer Hudson is the heart and soul of Dreamgirls. When she's on the screen, the movie shines. When she's not, the whole endeavor suffers. Read more

David Rooney, Variety: Stays true to the source material while standing on its own as a fully reimagined movie. Read more

Scott Foundas, Village Voice: With a star turn like [Jennifer Hudson's] at its center, a movie doesn't need too much more, but Dreamgirls has plenty to go around. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: ...An uneven success. Read more