DREAMGIRL

on albums or CDs, each of us could claim one full-length disc that was purchased on the strength of one song. The rest of the music might be OK, or worse, but there was that one track that you went back to, that made the whole thing worth keeping, that you never, ever renounced, no matter if the artist later changed or even vanished.
"Dreamgirls," the long-anticipated big screen adaptation of the hit 1981 Broadway musical, has one of those highlights -- a moment of absolute show-stopping, unforgettable, if not exactly, er, supreme.

partners in a singing group and by her sweetheart, who also is the band's manager. In a cathartic confrontation, Over." And then Effie rebuffs them and rips the roof searing, sensational retort, the show's signature tune, as it's staged here, is probably the most impressive musical number in an American movie in 40 years.

Effie is played by Jennifer Hudson, a sassy, brassy young golden ring of a breakout role in this film. Strong, willful, suspicious, ironic, sloe-eyed and built with the curves of, as Effie puts it, a real woman, she's a firecracker presence, born to make waves and make music in equally impressive measure. She has several memorable comic will always, and I mean always, be remembered for "I Am Telling You," in which desperation, determination, fire, thirst, desire and life-force burst out of her in you'll be slammed by the sheer force of her energy, voice and delivery.

It's stunning.
"Dreamgirls" can't, obviously, sustain that sort of intensity over its two-hour running time. And, to be true, more than a little of it is indifferent or, occasionally, worse.

But along with Hudson, the film sports solid performances by Beyonce Knowles, Anika Noni Rose and Danny Glover, and plenty of lively, crowd-pleasing, Bill Condon, who directed his own scripts for "Gods and screenwriter on "Chicago," isn't a natural here. But the sheer verve and pluck of the thing wins you over despite any misgivings. And if nothing else, of the whole.

version of the story of Diana Ross, the Supremes, Motown rocked America -- and, especially, black America -- from the disco and blaxploitation films.
Hudson, Knowles and Rose appear as the Dreamettes, a trio of by his name. The new gig is brokered by Curtis Taylor (Jamie transforms the act, changing the girls' name to the Dreams, and, crucially, moving the glamorous Deena (Knowles) to the front, even though everybody knows that Effie's got the best pipes of the three.

Eventually, Effie (echoing the fate of original Supreme Curtis by the gorgeous Deena. The abandoned singer tumbles Curtis' business is (as, indeed, in almost every As I say, the film has Hudson as its trump card and a fine the screen with a mere smile or line delivery, demonstrating And Robinson is particularly unconvincing, projecting absolutely nothing in a key role.
On a technical level, there's a lot of razzle but not quite enough dazzle to the production numbers, which are editing style.

And for all the efforts taken by Condon and decor, wardrobe, hair and makeup, and the like, the film often out of sync with the putative time and place.
moments that can't be denied. The film is like a lot like Effie: It occasionally vexes or disappoints, but -- I am telling you -- it dazzles.