Too fragmented and episodic to deliver much drama, Cadillac Records"" still satisfies as an amble through a rich chapter of American pop culture.
From the late '40s through the early '60s, Chicago's Chess Records was a hotbed of no-nonsense blues. And as the home of Chuck Berry, it has a claim to being the birthplace of rock 'n' roll.
Director Darnell Martin approaches this story of the label and the personalities within it who made musical history with equal servings of nostalgia, humor and awe.
It begins with the parallel lives of guitar-picking Mississippi sharecropper McKinley Morganfield (Jeffrey Wright) and Leonard Chess (Adrien Brody), a music-loving Jewish man from Chicago.
Morganfield heads north to play his guitar, and rechristens himself Muddy Waters. Chess opens a club that caters to black patrons, but when it is mysteriously burned down, he uses the insurance money to launch the record label that would make them both famous. (There were actually two Chess siblings behind the label, but to streamline the story the filmmakers eliminated all mention of brother Phil.)
In addition to Berry (played by a scene-stealing Mos Def), a fantastic lineup of players gravitated to Chess: the harmonica-blowing, self-destructive Little Walter (Columbus Short), the gravel-voiced Howlin' Wolf (Eamonn Walker) and the songwriting genius Willie Dixon (Cedric the Entertainer). The late addition to the stable is songstress Etta James (Beyoncé Knowles).
The film's title refers to Chess' practice of presenting his new artists with a big shiny Caddy - visually, ""Cadillac Records"" is a car lover's dream, with the beautiful and classic Caddy lines.
The cast members do their own singing, and although only Knowles comes close to surpassing the original recordings, they're all perfectly competent.
Narratively, the film is all over the place: a bit of racism here, some drug abuse there, a whole lot of sexual shenanigans (Gabrielle Union plays Muddy Waters' long-suffering spouse) and, of course, countless great songs being performed in the recording studio or on stage.
""Cadillac Records"" is coy on a couple of still-controversial issues, though.
For example, it raises the possibility that Chess exploited his performers, getting rich while they often lived hand-to-mouth. Maybe he employed creative bookkeeping, or perhaps he saved while they lavishly spent. The jury is still out. Also, while suggesting a love affair between the long-married Chess and Etta James, the film avoids making a definitive pronouncement of their relationship.
With multiple loose ends created throughout, the film lacks a center, jumping from one larger-than-life personality to the next.
The biggest selling point is the music. Chess electrified the blues, and his artists electrified audiences. And after seeing this film, you're going to want to find a compilation of Chess hits, settle in with a longneck and groove to some of the best American music ever made.
Grade: B
