Jennifer Hudson. Wow.

It’s been a long time since a scene in a movie gave me chills, a musical number no less. Jennifer Hudson’s performance was that good. The people in the theatre with us applauded after her stand-out number, and when her name appeared in the closing credits.

What I liked best about the movie was that it was based on a stage show, and it felt like a stage show without being stuck on a stage. It’s hard to describe the difference, but you know it when you see it. There’s a quality to theatre that doesn’t translate to film if the director tries to make it a real-world story. People bursting out in song in the middle of conversation just looks silly. Dreamgirls more than gets away with it.