Is Dreamgirls (Dreamworks) a lively paean to the transcendent power of leave-it-all-on-the-stage musical performances, or an overbearing, underthought, fundamentally dishonest pop pastiche? Either way, it should play better on DVD, where the faux-Motown riffing will be reduced to its proper scale. Also, viewers can now skip to the best musical numbers—there aren't too many—and get straight to Jennifer Hudson and Eddie Murphy's Oscar-nominated performances without having to sit through Jamie Foxx and Beyoncé Knowles' grinding turns as their soulless counterparts…
An assured follow-up to his debut feature, In The Bedroom, Todd Field's skillful adaptation of Tom Perrotta's book Little Children (New Line) lacks the low-key observational humor of Perrotta's best work, but makes up for it in dramatic gravity. The film benefits from an exceptionally good performance by Jackie Earle Haley as a sex offender who can't shake his neighbors' suspicions and hostility—with good reason, as it happens…
A true story about young people committing crimes of breathtaking stupidity, Alpha Dog (Universal) echoes Larry Clark's underrated Bully, but could use some of its darkly comedic sting—or any discernable point of view, for that matter. Justin Timberlake acquits himself well as one of a desperate group of druggies who kidnap a boy who's all too happy to enter their pleasure-seeking world. There are any number of angles into this story; too bad director Nick Cassavetes never chooses one…
The endless parade of undistinguished slasher remakes continues with the DVD release of The Hitcher (Universal), a slickly empty update of the mid-'80s white-knuckler that finds Sean Bean chewing scenery in the Rutger Hauer role of a hitchhiker with serious anger-management issues. One Tree Hill fans, meanwhile, will want to check out Sophia Bush's perilously short miniskirt. In studio schlock like this, at least sex and violence still represent an unbeatable combination…
It doesn't take much to entertain children: A CGI kids' film can generally get away with generic animation, or an uninspired plot, or bland dialogue, or awkward pacing, as long as it compensates in some other area. Then there are films that try to get away with all of the above, like Lions Gate's dull, draggy fairy-tale redux Happily N'Ever After. It constantly talks about being edgy, but never manages anything more scandalous than the ludicrously sculpted T&A on Cinderella's evil stepmother.