For those of you with Dreamgirls fatigue, just skip this post! One of the movie critics who I respect the most, and who is not a snob about movies, is Joe Morgenstern of the Wall Street Journal whose Friday reviews are a must-read. Joe may have to see plenty of clunkers but he loves movies and it comes through in this review of "Dreamgirls" which he acknowledges has dramatic problems when it comes to the story. But he gives full credit to Hudson for making it all OK in the end. Here is some of what he wrote today:

"The human voice in full cry borders on the miraculous - an infant's throat can project tones of piercing urgency at phenomenal intensity. Then there's the phenomenon of Jennifer Hudson: her soaring, sinuous voice raises up the film version of "Dreamgirls" and finally transcends it...It's one of those show-stopping performances that makes your heart race and your ears stand on end-full of unrequited love and ferocious passion. She's the best part of the show by far."

He writes that when Hudson, as the wronged Effie launches into the show's signature anthem "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going," and other songs, "all's right with the world."

Morgenstern praises writer-director Bill Condon who he says "has done the original 'Dreamgirls' proud...What's up there on the screen looks grand and sounds grander, a sumptious vehicle that glides from one number to the next - with periodic slowdowns for melodrama - like the two-toned Caddy in one of its songs."