Trite musical biopic feels like soundtrack album in search of a movie
Adrien Brody portrays Polish immigrant Leonard Chess, whose Chess Records nurtured the careers of Muddy Waters and others. Cadillac Records tells the story of Chess and his company. Beyonce stars as Etta James and Jeffrey Wright plays Muddy Waters in this story of the rise of Chess Records and its founder Leonard Chess (Adrien Brody). While it tells the story of an exciting period in American pop culture, Cadillac Records winds up being so trite, tidy and two-dimensional that you would swear you were watching a late-night infomercial for the great music of Chess Records. All thats missing is a toll-free number and a paid walk-on by Frankie Avalon.
Mores the pity, since the story of Polish immigrant Leonard Chess (Adrien Brody) and how he made a fortune on race music by nurturing the careers of Muddy Waters and other blues-rock legends certainly could have translated to a compelling screen story. As it stands, however, Cadillac Records feels uncomfortably like Walk Hard played completely, deadly straight.
As Chess turns his Chicago junkyard into a colored nightclub, sharecropper Waters (Jeffrey Wright) plays and sings for a man recording folk music for the Library of Congress. Hearing his music played back to him for the first time inspires the guitar player to leave Mississippi and head to Chicago to find his fortune as a musician. After he plays at Chess club, the nightlife impresario drags him into a recording studio, and history is made.
What follows is known by anyone whos ever watched VH1s Behind the Music, with Little Walter (Columbus Short), Etta James (Beyonc Knowles), Chuck Berry (Mos Def) and the rest trooping through the studio, going on tour, getting rich, doing drugs, breaking up marriages, getting arrested and watching white acts rip off their music. Theres a template movies like this follow, and here theres not one note of deviation.
The musical performances are sprightly enough, but theyll all make you wish you were listening to the real deal. Knowles is a talented singer, but lets face it, shes no Etta James. (If you were wondering how she landed the role, her executive producer credit on Cadillac Records should explain all.) Her performance seems like something of a natural progression from Dreamgirls in that film, she basically played Diana Ross; here, shes essentially playing Diana Ross playing Billie Holiday in Lady Sings the Blues.
Adrien Brody portrays Polish immigrant Leonard Chess, whose Chess Records nurtured the careers of Muddy Waters and others. Cadillac Records tells the story of Chess and his company. Beyonce stars as Etta James and Jeffrey Wright plays Muddy Waters in this story of the rise of Chess Records and its founder Leonard Chess (Adrien Brody). While it tells the story of an exciting period in American pop culture, Cadillac Records winds up being so trite, tidy and two-dimensional that you would swear you were watching a late-night infomercial for the great music of Chess Records. All thats missing is a toll-free number and a paid walk-on by Frankie Avalon.
Mores the pity, since the story of Polish immigrant Leonard Chess (Adrien Brody) and how he made a fortune on race music by nurturing the careers of Muddy Waters and other blues-rock legends certainly could have translated to a compelling screen story. As it stands, however, Cadillac Records feels uncomfortably like Walk Hard played completely, deadly straight.
As Chess turns his Chicago junkyard into a colored nightclub, sharecropper Waters (Jeffrey Wright) plays and sings for a man recording folk music for the Library of Congress. Hearing his music played back to him for the first time inspires the guitar player to leave Mississippi and head to Chicago to find his fortune as a musician. After he plays at Chess club, the nightlife impresario drags him into a recording studio, and history is made.
What follows is known by anyone whos ever watched VH1s Behind the Music, with Little Walter (Columbus Short), Etta James (Beyonc Knowles), Chuck Berry (Mos Def) and the rest trooping through the studio, going on tour, getting rich, doing drugs, breaking up marriages, getting arrested and watching white acts rip off their music. Theres a template movies like this follow, and here theres not one note of deviation.
The musical performances are sprightly enough, but theyll all make you wish you were listening to the real deal. Knowles is a talented singer, but lets face it, shes no Etta James. (If you were wondering how she landed the role, her executive producer credit on Cadillac Records should explain all.) Her performance seems like something of a natural progression from Dreamgirls in that film, she basically played Diana Ross; here, shes essentially playing Diana Ross playing Billie Holiday in Lady Sings the Blues.
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