Review: Cadillac Records

Broken Record

It should be noted that I am still a believer that the so called "musical biopic" can offer something new and fresh to the genre. While Ray and Walk the Line have pretty much set an industry standard for how these stories should be told, I still remember the admittedly funny, and unjustly overlooked, Walk Hard, and while technically not a biopic (neither was Dewey Cox), Dreamgirls still followed the same basic rules and managed to become entertaining in the end. This film follows many of the standard rules, which makes it seem very tailored to those other films and eventually becoming a mere imitation.

The entire film chronicles the Chicago based record company Chess Records. Founded by Leonard Chess (Adrien Brody), a Polish immigrant struggling in America, the company soon became a basic name in blues, R&B, and jazz. Chess's personal life and finances were always in trouble, along with Muddy Waters (Jeffrey Wright) with his money instability and infidelity, Little Walters (Colombus Short) with his drug and alcohol dependency, Howlin' Wolf (Eamonn Walker) with his resistance to become a team player, Chuck Berry (Mos Def) with his sexual perversions, and Etta James (Beyoncé Knowles) with her own drug and family problems, along with a hinted affair with the married Chess.

As you can see, the movie has a lot on its plate, and there is the biggest flaw with the film. The plot is far too bloated and overblown with many storylines that the film never has a focus within its characters. Everyone who was vital to the production of Chess Records is given an equal amount of story, but sometimes less is more. Writer-director Darnell Martin already omitted some things out, whether the minuscule fact that Chess had already established themselves as jazz, rather than blues, in the beginning, or the mighty big facts of the influence of local radio station WVON or that another Chess brother also co-founded the company. The script also feels lazily executed and very drawn out.

However, a great redeeming factor is the cast. I mentioned in my review of Milk that Sean Penn is part of the very few group of actors that can completely disappear into a role. Wright is another member, and it is a shame that his fame is not matched by his talent. Players like Brody, Short, Walker and Gabrielle Union, who plays Muddy's wife, do well in their roles, but don't bring anything special to their characters. One true standout is Def, an amazing actor who brings light and charm to the role of Berry in a movie that desperately needed it. Then, there is Beyoncé. This role still shows that she is a more talented singer than actress, but I would say this is her best film performance. She always steals the scene when she appears and can truly make her renditions of James's songs very effective.

In truth, all the songs are effective, and it is partially why the movie can be enjoyable. Not every song is going to inspire joy, but a good amount of them will excite that basic joy within you and start your feet tapping in the theatre. After all, it is music from a bygone era, and sometimes that is enough to get your attention.

Still, the movie fails to grab all of that attention. The movie's way overblown plot, along with a ridiculously formulaic script, many times cause this second cousin to Ray begging to be removed from the family. However, many of the performances are fine (Def I believe is the best), the music track is very entertaining, and in the end the film is discussing a part of history that has become forgotten to many people today, and it is interesting to go back and look at that. A documentary on PBS might have sufficed more, but some of that is here as well. **1/2 / ****; GRADE: B-