Dreamgirls is a 2006 American musical film jointly produced and released by DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures. A period piece set in the 1960s and 1970s with a primarily African-American cast, Dreamgirls is adapted from the 1981 Broadway musical of the same name. The musical was based on the history and evolution of American R&B music during the eras of doo-wop, soul, the Motown Sound, funk, and disco.

Effie White

• [singing] And I am telling you
  I'm not going
  You're the best man I'll ever know
  There's no way I could ever go
  no, no, there's no way
  No, no, no, no way
  I'm living without you
  I'm stayin', I'm stayin'
  And you, and you...you're gonna love me

Lorrell Robinson

• [singing] And Lorrell loves Jimmy
  Lorrell loves Jimmy
  Lorrell loves Jimmy, it's true
  But Lorrell and Jimmy are through

The Dreams

• [singing] Ev'ry man has his own special dream
  And that dream is just about to come true
  Life's not as bad as it may seem
  If you open your eyes towards in front of you
• [singing] We're your dreamgirls, boy, we'll make you happy... Yeah!
  We're your dreamgirls, boy, we'll always care
  We're your dreamgirls, dreamgirls will never leave you... No, no!
  And all you got to do is dream
  Baby, we'll be there
• [singing] Heavy, heavy! You got me heavy baby
  Heavy, heavy! You got so heavy on me

James "Thunder" Early

• Hey, I got soul! You can't kill a man with soul!
• I can't do it no more. I can't sing no more sad songs.
• Jimmy want a rib, Jimmy want a steak, Jimmy want a piece of your chocolate cake!
• [to Lorrell] Where you goin'? You can't leave me, girl. I love you.

Marty Madison

• [Referring to a club in Florida where Curtis has booked the Dreamettes] That place is so white they will not even hire us to wash dishes!
• Effie, it is time for you to perform. For the past four months I have been your food, your rent, your support network.

Dialogue

Curtis Taylor: $500 says the Dreamettes do not win.

Contest judge takes money

Contest judge: Thanks a lot man, because they were going to lose anyway!

Mae Jones: I'm amazed, Mr, Taylor. As much as I love my daughter, I never thought she had much of a voice.

Curtis Taylor, Jr.: Oh, Deena has something better. She has a... quality.

Mae Jones: You make her sound like a product.

Curtis Taylor, Jr.: "A product." I like that!

Effie White: [about Deena] She ain't better than anybody. She ain't nothin' but common!

Deena Jones: Now who you callin' common, you self-indulgent, self-absorbed, non-professional?

Effie White: You! I'm callin' you! I'm callin' you the common piece he's knockin' off!

Deena Jones: Now you listen to me, Miss Blame-It-On-The-World, see, I put up with you for much too long. I have put up with your bitchin', I put up with your naggin', and all your screamin' too!

Lorrell Robinson: Now when are you two gonna stop all this fighting?

Effie White: Stay out of this, Lorrell! This is between Deena and me!

Lorrell Robinson: Yeah? Well, it's between me too! I'm a part of this group as anybody else! And I'm tired! Effie, I'm tired of all the problems you're makin' us!

Effie White: I always knew you two were together.

Lorrell Robinson: What?!

Effie White: I always knew you two were gangin' up on me!

Deena Jones: She had nothing to do with this change. It was you! You always thinkin' of you! Always thinkin' of you!

Curtis Taylor, Jr.: I knew you were trouble from the start.

Effie White: Trouble?!

Curtis Taylor, Jr.: You were real bad trouble from the start.

Effie White: Curtis, I'm your woman!

Curtis Taylor, Jr.: But you're gettin' out now. I'm not building this group to have you tear it apart! Go head and rant and scream and shout! Don't worry, baby, I'll buy you out.

Effie White: There's no money dirty enough to buy me out. You remember that, Curtis!

M.C.: And now, the courageous, the curvaceous, Creamettes!

Deena Jones: It's the Dreamettes! The Dreamettes!

C.C. White: Effie, Curtis was supposed to...

Effie White: Love me. Curtis was supposed to love me.

Magic White: Momma, why are you so slow?

Effie White: Because I'm old.

C.C. White: Lay off, Effie. Just take the money and run.

Effie White: You in this with them, C.C.?

C.C. White: Cool it, Effie. This time you know what you've done.

Effie White: So they bought your black ass too, huh?

C.C. White: I said, cool it, Effie. This time you've gone too far.

Effie White: Oh, I can go further! I can go further!

Taglines

• Fame comes and goes, starts rise and fall, but dreams live forever.
• All you have to do is dream.
• One dream will change everything.

Main cast

External links

• Dreamgirls quotes at the Internet Movie Database
• Dreamgirls at Rotten Tomatoes