Jennifer Hudson credited as playing...
Effie White
- Effie Melody White: [sings] And I am telling you/ I'm not going./ You're the best man I'll ever know./ There's no way I can ever go./ No, no, no, no way... / No, no, no, no way I'm living without you./ I'm not living without you./ I don't want to be free./ I'm staying, I'm staying,/ And you, and you,/ you're gonna love me.
- Lorrell Robinson: You got the same wig I got?
- Effie Melody White: Yeah.
- Lorrell Robinson: You got same the same dress I got?
- Effie Melody White: Yeah.
- Lorrell Robinson: [Drags it out] Then shut up!
- Case Worker: Have you considered asking the girl's father for help?
- Effie Melody White: Magic don't have a father.
- Effie Melody White: Tell me something, Curtis. Do you think it's right to promote an amateur performer over a professional?
- Curtis Taylor Jr.: I'm not sure what this is about...
- Effie Melody White: It's about fairness, Curtis. It's about people paying their dues. Isn't that what you keep telling me? "Get in line, Effie. Wait your turn". So why am I sitting here without so much as a B-side on a 45, when an amateur like Martin Luther King Jr. gets his own freaking album? I mean, can he even sing?
- Effie Melody White: That's right Curtis. You stopped me once, but you'll never stop me again.
- [sings]
- Effie Melody White: 'Cause this time, Effie White's gonna win!
- Effie Melody White: So... Deena's going to sing the lead 'cause you like the way she looks? Am I ugly to you, Curtis?
- Curtis Taylor Jr.: Baby, come on! You know how I feel about you, come on. Don't make it personal.
- Effie Melody White: Well, what am I supposed to do? Deena's beautiful, and she's always been beautiful... but I've got the voice, Curtis! I've got the voice! You can't put me in back; you just can't!