I'm quite certain that all the youngsters will LOVE Dreamgirls - LOVE it. I'm quite certain that all the musical theater fans who already LOVE it before they even see it just because it's a MUSICAL on FILM, will LOVE it. I suspect a few others will LOVE it. And I supect that most people will feel it's okay, fine, not great, or they will be indifferent. In trying to have it all ways, to please especially the people that are not interested in book numbers on film (preposterous), the filmmakers have created pablum and not art. You can't try to please everyone - people will sit still for things that work, it's that simple. People sat still for West Side Story and The Sound Of Music and many other films that have book numbers. But today's filmmakers and studios? They won't take the chance - they assume people won't, and shoot everything as if it were a performance number, even though it's clearly not. That way, as Bill Condon says, they "ease" the audience in. You can't "ease" and audience to do anything. Do it or don't do it. Be true to what you're doing or you will fail. Try to please everyone, every demographic, every audience member, and you come out with nothing.
The studio is working so hard to shove this thing down people's throats - I would say, in fact, they're being as shameless as Miramax was with Chicago - for those who don't remember, Chicago was the film that made the Academy change their rules about promotion and what studios could send to their members.
