comment #1

Dan Revill says ...

She's a good looking girl. Good for her sticking up for her appearance.

comment #2

Devin Faraci says ...

I have a crush on her.

comment #3

erniesouchak says ...

Yes, it's too bad Dreamamount is going out of its way to hide her frame in every photo it releases.

comment #4

Mr. Muckle says ...

Jennifer is the goosebump givingest girl to come around in years and years.

comment #5

Ju-osh says ...

I don't think that you guys are giving Jeff the sort of responses he'd hoped for.
Good for all you!

comment #6

Liz says ...

I just don't get the Dreamgirls thing. Why is this considered a contender? I'm completely mystified.

Good for Jennifer Hudson for standing up for "her jelly" now, but by the time her next role comes around, ten bucks says she'll be on the cover of US Weekly trumpeting a miracle diet.

comment #7

Devin Faraci says ...

Liz, mostly because it's a really great movie.

comment #8

Liz says ...

That's what the word seems to be--it's "great," Hudson's a lock, and so on. What eludes me is the appeal--what would even get you into the theater? The trailers are terrible.

Maybe I'm just the wrong demographic; I never cared for The Supremes.

comment #9

tholl-yung says ...

Devin's confounding me; no there there on APOC , yes on DGirls -- thought this guy's from CHUD. Someone needs to tells JH that BK is a size 12.

comment #10

tholl-yung says ...

"Everyone was eating cookies and I'm drinking, literally, water and cayenne pepper. But it worked." -- Beyonce Knowles on Her 20-Pound Weight Loss (From Size 12 to 8) for 'Dreamgirls.' The Changes Were So Rapid and Dramatic, They Worried Director Bill Condon

http://blackvoices.aol.com/black_news/headlines_features/wordforword_quotes/_a/word-for-word-read-and-rate/20060524120809990001

P.S. I meant to write "there's no there there" in the above post.

comment #11

bipedalist says ...

T. Holly, lol. I was gonna say, is she really only a size 12? 'Cause the rest of America sure as hell ain't. Anyway, you know Beyonce is talking about The Master Cleanse! Lemon juice, maple syrup, cayenne pepper and water. For 10 days. On the 11th day your stomach eats your brain.

comment #12

nola says ...

I don't think she's size 12. Maybe 14 or 16. And yes while she is average for America, I wish her luck as a chunky brown skinned, non-comedic actress in getting work in Hollywood. I remember trying to pitch Sanaa for a project and the execs would not stop fixating on Halle and Beyonce. Neither were appropiate for the role, but it didn't matter.

comment #13

Wrecktum says ...

She was at least a 16 on American Idol. Probably more. Sista was fat. And she looked creepy when she sang...a great voice with absolutely no star appeal (which is why she was dumped pretty early in the final rounds).

It looks like she's shaved a few dress sizes for the movie and she's been coached to sing without looking like a wide-eyed retard. So I guess that means she deserves the Oscar, huh?

comment #14

NYCritic says ...

I was lucky enough to attend the opening night of Dreamgirls in Boston and I can easily remember the goosebumps when Jennifer Holliday sang. She was a bit wooden in her acting, but she really blew everyone off the stage. You sort of knew you were watching, if not a "star" than certainly a "personality" being born.

Seeing the film recently, I had the same sensation watching Jennifer Hudson. She's a little uneven in some of the acting scenes (but she is heads above Beyonce in that department) but once the girl opens her mouth to sing -- again, it was watching the birth of a star. She really came into her own.

comment #15

Ju-osh says ...

...and Wrecktum bites heartily into the carrot Jeff had been dangling all day long!

comment #16

bipedalist says ...

I disagree that Jeff was doing that - he likes Hudson in the film. Wrecktum cracks me up. I wish her well also and think her jelly be just fine.

comment #17

Dan Revill says ...

Wrecktum, that was pretty funny.

comment #18

MovieBob says ...

"I just don't get the Dreamgirls thing. Why is this considered a contender? I'm completely mystified."

Because it was a HUGE deal on Broadway back when it was something new, which counts as "pedigree" to NY/LA critics and Academy bluehairs. The rest of the country, for good or ill, seldom gives two shits about ANYTHING on Broadway until it's made into a movie or Nathan Lane tells them to. Also, I'd bet that the prognosticators are betting that it'll be more-heavily touted in some circles as the only Oscar nominee of the year (of several years, really) that is primarily black-cast.

You're gonna see some seriously ugly fan-fighting if this really does come down to a Musical versus the mas-macho "Departed"...

comment #19

NYCBusybody says ...

I find it morally appalling that Jennifer Hudson is a size 12 when there are starving children in Africa. Typical capitalistic hubris.

And doesn't she know that if she eats free-range cucumbers and adopts a holistic vegan diet, we as a community can finally achieve Richard Linklater's great vision of pure nutrition? If she's eaten a Big Mac in the last year, this should automatically disqualify her from an Academy nomination.

comment #20

Arrow77 says ...

If the issue was only an appearance one I wouldn't mind but it's also a health issue. Hudson shouldn't feel awful about being a size 12 but she should feel bad at least a little, enough to want to reach her ideal weight.

comment #21

d manhattan says ...

nola: Glad to hear that you at least tried to pitch Sanaa Lathan for a project. With her charisma, integrity and intelligence - If she was white she would have been A-list today (or at least be getting the major roles in the oscar-baiting dramas).

comment #22

bipedalist says ...

You're gonna see some seriously ugly fan-fighting if this really does come down to a Musical versus the mas-macho "Departed"...

And we know how well the Academy takes to fan pressure (not at all in the slightest) - fans will have to back way off if it comes down to that. AMPAS doesn't very much like being cowed into voting for a film and will often rebel against it.

comment #23

le corbeau says ...

"She should feel bad at least a little."

I'm going to book you to talk to high school girls! Jeebus, you know recent studies indicate a little padding is actually healthier for you than the California Auschwitz-with-a-tan ideal. And that's setting aside the part about how it's healthier not spending your whole life obsessing about an extra ten or twenty pounds.

Jennifer Hudson got a plum movie role and possibly an Oscar out of some padding (which, as stated, is essential to her singing voice). What would you say her ideal weight is, exactly?

comment #24

Arrow77 says ...

I'm certainly not qualified to state what her ideal weight is but nutritionists are. Comparing her to "Auschwitz-with-tan" people is a little easy: it's not because others have bigger problems than hers that it means she doesn't have any, and saying she is better off with too much weight than not enough is discarding the fact that there is a wide margin between the two. She seems to have more "padding" than my dad had and since it offered no advantage to his career, the only things those extra pounds gave him was that heart surgery a few years back. I'm okay for gaining (or losing) weight for a part but on the long run? Not worthed.

comment #25

christian says ...

you mean there's a shortage of actors who can sing? is this all we get? crappy reality tv show divas?