I Have Finally Seen Dreamgirls!

Forget how many days there are until Christmas. Everyone should be counting the days until Dreamgirls.

As regular readers of this column know, I have been looking forward to the movie adaptation of the hit Broadway musical for what seems like forever. Well, it happened on Wednesday night. I saw Dreamgirls.

And it is brilliant. Director Bill Condon's creation is everything moviegoing should be.

Beyoncé is drop-dead gorgeous. Jamie Foxx is a confident badass. Eddie Murphy turns his comic chops into a career-infusing performance. And then there's Jennifer Hudson, who is phenomenal. She is, for lack of a better word, a dream.

Does Hudson steal the movie from Beyoncé? Not exactly. They have very different  roles. Beyoncé's Deanna Jones is a quiet beauty. Hudson's Effie White is an opinionated loudmouth who is meant  to have the powerhouse voice Ms. Hudson certainly has. Hudson nails the two songs she appears to have been destined to sing: "Changing" and "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going." But if there's any doubt Beyoncé can hold her own against Hudson, wait till you hear the former Destiny's Child lead singer's solo of "Listen." It's one of the new songs written just for the movie and will most likely be an Oscar contender.

Needless to say, this isn't the last time you'll be hearing from me about Dreamgirls. For now, mark your calendars. A limited release begins in New York, L.A. and San Francisco on Dec. 15, before it explodes onto screens everywhere on Dec. 25.