No, the story isn't perfect, some of the line readings were off, and yes, it's a musical. But damn if it wasn't exciting to look at and listen to. And in this case, that's all you really need.

And you might as well pencil in Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson for Oscar wins. Not nominations, but WINS.

Same for the movie itself. Don't be shocked if it happens.

And yeah, Jennifer Holliday's mad. And yeah, she killed it back in 1982. Much respect due. But this is 2006, and Jennifer Hudson OWNS this movie. Owns it. And instead of grumbling, Ms. Holliday should be honored that her role (the one that's the emotional core of the story) has been so wonderfully realized. Hudson's performance of "And I Am Telling You..." is the very definition of a showstopper. Period. Nitpick and hate and bitch and moan about... whatever... if you must, but the rest of the audience you see this with will most likely be clapping by the end of the number. LOUDLY. Even though "Jennifer Hudson can't see you."

And Eddie... yeah, he's doing a variation on his old roles (the fast-talking flim-flam man), but only to a degree. Believe me when I say, he got soul. So he good. Real good.

At the risk of coming off like an alleged Beyonce stan, can I please make a request to keep the Beyonce hate/gossip out of this particular post? It's pretty clear that Deena's not the focus of the story, and anyone who doesn't have their head up their (or General Discussion's) ass can see that Beyonce's clearly fine with playing the background for the majority of the film. And I say she did a fine job "channeling" Diana Ross. I mean, that's all the role really called for, imo. However, I do take points from the latter half of the film for her solo number, which screams of "Beyonce's not doing this movie unless she gets her own showcase song." To me, it's a nice song, but it doesn't really belong in the movie.

Jamie Foxx was fine, but there were points where I thought he looked confused or unsure as to what exactly he was supposed to be playing. And there were a couple of times where he looked like he was told to "pull up" and not take his performance to the even darker place he thought it should go to. But he was fine. I also give Keith Robinson points for his performance, though storywise I though it was odd that he wouldn't at least try and seek out his sister at some point... I also dug Anika Noni Rose's performance, but it felt like her character was the most severely underwritten of the three ladies...

And like I said, the story doesn't really come together as well as it should, but there's a lot going on, a lot of ground to cover here, and I thought Bill Condon did a remarkable job of getting the main story points across. And I loved the cinematography (by Tobias Schliessler) and particularly the production design by John Mhyre... and I apologize in advance, but this has to be said... those of you who like to, well, seek out period inconsistencies and falsehoods will be sorely disappointed here. As far as I could tell, every single detail is correct.

And I know you Armchair Activists, Mau-Maus with Modems, Broadband Garveys, Radio Shack Revolutionaries, etc, are reading this. This film, and The Pursuit of Happyness, are your final chances in 2006 to stop complaining about how black people are looking and get out and support. Yes, black people dance in the movie (with choreography by Fatima Robinson). *GASP!* And they also sing. *DOUBLE GASP!* But they also generally act their asses off. Place those wringing hands in a bucket of popcorn and enjoy the show.

So, again, this is top-notch filmmaking. The movie's really about putting on a show, and as such, it's one of the top pictures of the year.
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"Would you get your face out of that computer? Life is happening all around you, and you're watching the commentary."
- Danny (Bradley Whitford), Studio 60 (yep!)