Dreamgirls (film)

Dreamgirls is a 2006 American romantic musical drama film written and directed by Bill Condon and jointly produced and released by DreamWorks Pictures and Paramount Pictures. Adapted from the 1981 Broadway musical of the same name by composer Henry Krieger and lyricist/librettist Tom Eyen, Dreamgirls is a film à clef, a work of fiction taking strong inspiration from the history of the Motown record label and one of its acts, The Supremes. The story follows the history and evolution of American R&B music during the 1960s and 1970s through the eyes of a Detroit, Michigan girl group known as the Dreams and their manipulative record executive.
The film adaptation of Dreamgirls stars Jamie Foxx, Beyoncé, Eddie Murphy, and Jennifer Hudson, and also features Danny Glover, Anika Noni Rose and Keith Robinson. Produced by Laurence Mark, the film's screenplay was adapted by director Condon from the original Broadway book by Tom Eyen. In addition to the original Kreiger/Eyen compositions, four new songs, composed by Krieger with various lyricists, were added for this film. Dreamgirls features the acting debut of Hudson, a former American Idol contestant and singer.
The film debuted in three special road show engagements starting on December 15, 2006, before its nationwide release on December 25, 2006. With a production cost of $80 million, Dreamgirls is the most expensive film to feature an all African-American starring cast in American cinema history.Upon its release, the film garnered positive reviews from critics, who particularly praised the performances of Hudson and Murphy. The film also earned $155 million at the international box office. Dreamgirls also received a number of accolades, including three awards at the 64th Golden Globe Awards ceremony, including the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, and two Oscars at the 79th Academy Awards.

Plot

In 1962 Detroit, Michigan, young car salesman Curtis Taylor Jr. meets a black girl group known as "The Dreamettes", which consists of lead singer Effie White and backup singers Deena Jones and Lorrell Robinson, at an R&B amateur talent show at the Detroit Theatre. Curtis presents himself as The Dreamettes' new manager and arranges for the girls to become backup singers for chitlin' circuit R&B star Jimmy "Thunder" Early.
Curtis soon starts his own record label, Rainbow Records, out of his Detroit car dealership, and appoints Effie's brother C.C as his head songwriter. When their first single fails after a white pop group releases a cover version, Curtis, C.C., and their producer Wayne turn to payola to make "Jimmy Early & The Dreamettes" mainstream pop stars. Offstage, Effie becomes infatuated with Curtis while the married Jimmy begins an affair with Lorrell.
Jimmy's manager, Marty Madison, grows weary of Curtis' plans to make his client more pop-friendly and walks out. When Jimmy bombs in front of an all-white Miami Beach supper club audience, Curtis sends Jimmy out on the road alone, keeping The Dreamettes behind to headline in his place. Feeling that Effie's curvy figure and distinctive voice will not attract white audiences, Curtis appoints the slimmer and higher-voiced Deena lead singer and renames the group "The Dreams".
With the aid of new songs and a new image, Curtis and C.C. transform The Dreams into a top-selling mainstream pop group. By 1965, however, Effie begins acting out, particularly when Curtis' affections also turn towards Deena. Curtis eventually drops Effie from the group, hiring his secretary Michelle Morris to take her place beginning with their 1966 New Year's Eve debut in Las Vegas as "Deena Jones & the Dreams." Despite Effie's defiance and desperate appeal to Curtis, he, C.C., and The Dreams leave her behind and forge ahead to stardom.
By 1973, Effie has become an impoverished welfare mother living in Detroit with her daughter Magic. Struggling to restart her career in music, she hires Marty as her manager and begins performing at a local club. Meanwhile, with Deena Jones & the Dreams superstars and Rainbow having moved to Los Angeles and now the biggest pop business in the country, Curtis attempts to produce a film about Cleopatra starring an unwilling Deena, who is now his wife.
The following year, Jimmy, who has descended into drug addiction due to Curtis' preoccupation with Deena, has a breakdown during Rainbow Records' tenth-anniversary television special. Curtis promptly drops him from the label and Lorrell ends their affair. Sometime later, C.C., who feels Curtis is undermining the artistic merit of his songs by making them into disco music, quits the label, only for everyone to then learn that Jimmy has been found dead from a heroin overdose.
Disillusioned by Jimmy's death and Curtis' cold reaction to the news, C.C. travels to Detroit and reconciles with Effie, for whom C.C. writes and produces a comeback single. Just as the record begins gaining local radio play, Curtis uses payola to force radio stations to play The Dreams' disco cover of the song. The plan falls apart, however, when Deena, angry over how Curtis controls her career, finds evidence of his schemes and contacts Effie, who arrives in Los Angeles with C.C., Marty, and a lawyer.
Deena and Effie reconcile, with Effie revealing to Deena that Curtis is Magic's father, while Curtis agrees to give Effie's record national distribution in order to avoid being reported to the FBI. Having been inspired by Effie's victory and realizing Curtis' true character, Deena leaves him to make it on her own.
By 1975, The Dreams give a final farewell performance at the Detroit Theater and invite Effie onstage for the final song. As the concert ends, Curtis notices Magic in the front row and realizes she is his daughter.