Product: Cadillac Records [Blu-ray] (2008)
Rating: 3.0
Hollwood treatment.
Thumbs down. Why can't Hollywood stick to the facts, especially when true events are more interesting and translatable to the screen? Why?1 star for making a mostly fictional movie. 3 stars for music and performances.I wish a real artist of a director had brought to the screen this important history and done so with a much better script that stuck to the well known historical facts. This is an okay film about an epic, original, only-in-America story that deserved nothing short of first-rate film treatment. "Cadillac Records" does have a fantastic cast. The actor playing Howlin' Wolf is great for example, but the script paints a slightly embarrassing and arguably one-dimensional portrait of the man while focusing almost entirely on Muddy Waters, played by the talented Jeffrey Wright. But Wright doesn't look or talk like Muddy. Adrien Brody plays Leonard Chess (looks nothing whatsoever like him) while the film entirely omits the existence of the other brother and partner with whom he made music history! The film does succeed in capturing the typical rip-off deals owners made with their musicians back in the day and hence the title of the film. Chess Records is named "Cadillac Records" here because the brothers Chess preferred paying their musicians with a nice, shinny Cadillac over money. I do like how the more rural, seemingly less sophisticated Howlin Wolf turns down the car, preferring the money he is owed. Howlin Wolf deserved a bigger portrayal in this film. Includes Mos Def in an entertaining turn as Chuck Berry and in one of the films more cinematic moments there is a black and white mug shot of Chuck Berry juxtaposed with color footage of happy, white surf boarders on either side of it while "Surfin' USA" is playing: The Beach Boys took the melody from a Berry song ("Sweet Little Sixteen"). "Cadillac Records" does a good job portraying the racial discrimination and societal changes these performers endured. The lovely Beyonce Knowles ably plays Etta James and she is nice to look at, but the portrayal of James in the film is misleading. She already had a career before hooking up with Chess and speaking of hooking up, it isn't clear she did with Leonard. And Leonard doesn't die while driving away from the studio after selling it.All in all, a paint by numbers level quality here, loose with the facts and liberal with so-called "artistic license" film that's perhaps a slight step above television production due to a talented cast. It's maybe worth a look, especially if you enjoy Hollywood treatments of music history. But in my opinion music history is seldom done justice by Hollywood and it wasn't with this film.