Cadillac Records: Review By Rama's SCREEN

I guess my problem was that I was expecting Dreamgirls but a bigger problem with CADILLAC RECORDS is that you don’t care about the characters while you’re watching the movie and even more so after you’re done. It’s more like a made-for-TV movie than it is… a theatrical presentation. It’s slow and pointless. Another movie about musicians in which the music or the songs are more enjoyable and admired than the movie itself.

CADILLAC RECORDS has too much subplots, too many characters that don’t compliment each other even in times of conflict. Not to mention the unbearable supposedly, very rare humorous moments in betweens as desperate attempts to keep the audience’s attention fixed on the screen. I understand that it’s a story of the rise and fall of Chess Records and its artists who are part of music history but the themes are all over the place and if those people were still alive today to watch this depiction, they’d be very disappointed. CADILLAC RECORDS, to say the least, is mediocre. Even if it’s supposed to be an ensemble comprised of characters and stories that collide with one another, they should’ve made it in a way that would flow harmoniously with the timeline and leave a lasting impression.

It’s obvious that Beyonce Knowles wants to be taken seriously as an actress but it’s also obvious that she’s too scared to go the distance for her character. It’s as if she puts limits on her own acting skills to keep herself in a comfort zone and the result is we see Beyonce Knowles on the screen, instead of her character, Etta James.

Similar problem with Jeffrey Wright and Adrien Brody and all the other cast involved. They’re terrific actors but Jeffrey Wright’s exaggerated portrayal of Muddy Waters comes off as irritating and unlikable and there’s nothing impressive about Adrien Brody’s performance in this film, none that are noteworthy.

I don’t know the history well enough to say how accurate this story is, but as a movie watcher, it’s a biopic that wants to be more than what it could handle. It aims high but falls short. What a shame.