Like a dream, Dreamgirls is somewhat forgettable.

Dreamgirls seems to have it all: a stellar cast, great acting, beautiful production design, lavish costumes, and of course, big musical numbers. Yet, for some reason, I walked out of the theater not that impressed. It comes across as a movie that tries too hard… And it’s noticeable. From the songs that feel forced when they are not being performed on a stage, to the end credits where they are practically asking for the Academy’s Oscar vote, it’s a movie that just misses the target.

Adapted from the Broadway musical from the 1980’s, the movie begins in the 1960’s, with the naïve-but-determined trio of Deena Jones (Beyoncé Knowles), Lorrell Robinson (Anika Noni Rose), and lead singer, Effie White (Jennifer Hudson), 3 black soul singers who get asked by wanne-be music producer Curtis Taylor Jr. (Jamie Foxx) to perform back-up for the James Brown-like, James”Thunder” Early (Eddie Murphy). Their careers start to take off under the guidance of Curtis and his producing career begins to bourgeon as well, chaperoning the girls to every performance and dating Effie, while hiding his true, underlying love for Deena.

As the girls’ popularity rises, Curtis decides to launch them as a solo act with the name The Dreams, and he propels Deena to the front as the new lead singer. As Effie begins to show her distaste for being pushed into the background, Curtis decides to cut her from The Dreams, as well as from his personal life. He begins to date Deena, while Effie’s fame fades her into obscurity.

Curtis’s driving ambition finally gets the best of him, with Deena leaving him, and a record scandal surfacing to threaten his label. Deena, still feeling guilty over the expulsion of Effie, finally reaches out to her and brings her back into the original family that was The Dreams for a final closing performance.

All of the male actors in Dreamgirls give rock-solid performances, from Jamie Foxx’s charismatic, but ultimately unlikable Curtis, to Eddie Murphy’s over-the-top, singing sensation, James “Thunder” Early. Even Danny Glover gives it his all as Marty Madison, the past-his-prime talent manager from days-gone-by. But it’s the female cast that really shines. Beyoncé Knowles is best known as a singer. She had acting roles in Austin Powers and Pink Panther, but those didn’t exactly allow her to stretch her abilities. In Dreamgirls, she is beautiful to look at as well as to listen to. Anika Noni Rose is great also as the lesser explored Dreamgirl, Lorrell. I have to save my greatest compliments for Jennifer Hudson. This American Idol reject is absolutely amazing to watch alongside veterans Foxx, Murphy and the rest of the cast. She holds her own and downright stops the show with her performance of “And I Am Telling You I Am Not Going.” She is sure to garner many accolades for her role, including a Best Supporting Actress nomination for an Academy Award.

The songs in Dreamgirls are all from the original musical except for three, and most of them are fun to watch on their own, however they didn’t cohesively gel the story together for me. A lot of them are performances that The Dreams are performing onstage for a show, so they don’t necessarily have to move the story forward. They came across as fun song performances for fun-song-performances sake. The one that stood out the most, and not in a good way, was “Family.” It feels a bit forced and the transition to get into it was a little jarring.

Written and directed by Bill Condon, (Kinsey, Gods and Monsters), who also adapted the screenplay for the 2002 musical and best picture winner Chicago, Dreamgirls comes across as an episode of VH1’s Behind-the-Music to me. It’s the singing group that starts from nothing and then rises to the top, to then fall from grace, and eventually come out smelling like roses in the end. Granted, that could be a flaw from the original source material, and maybe that can’t be fixed, but in the end, I felt that this was a movie with all style and not much substance.

ReelzChannel Rating: 

What's on the Disc:

True to its glamorous nature, Dreamgirls has released in a 2-disc set for the DVD.

Disc One

Extended musical numbers and a Beyoncé music video for "Listen."

Disc Two

The meat of this DVD set is a full-length behind-the-scenes documentary entitled "Building the Dream." There are also several featurettes, on film editing, costume design, and theatrical lighting for the movie, as well as an image gallery and previsualization sequences which set the storyboards to music.

The best part, however, is the collection of auditions and screentests, including Beyoncé's screentest, Anika Noni Rose's audition, and a choreography audition as well. The only problem - no Jennifer Hudson?!