Cadillac Records (2008)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Darnell Martin

Writer (WGA):

Darnell Martin (written by)

Release Date:

5 December 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | History | Music | Romance

Tagline:

If you take the ride, you must pay the price.

Plot:

Chronicles the rise of Chess Records and its recording artists.

Plot Keywords:

1950s | Sex | Singing | Rock 'n' Roll | Immigrant

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 4 wins & 14 nominations

Cast

Adrien Brody	...	Leonard Chess
Jeffrey Wright	...	Muddy Waters
Gabrielle Union	...	Geneva Wade
Columbus Short	...	Little Walter
Cedric the Entertainer	...	Willie Dixon
Emmanuelle Chriqui	...	Revetta Chess
Eamonn Walker	...	Howlin' Wolf
Mos Def	...	Chuck Berry
Beyoncé Knowles	...	Etta James
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Joshua Alscher	...	Mick Jagger
Tim Bellow	...	Man in the Caddy
Tony Bentley	...	Lomax
Lawrence P. Beron	...	Overseer
Tammy Blanchard	...	Isabelle Allen
Eric Bogosian	...	Alan Freed
Marc Bonan	...	Keith Richards
Wayne Cobham	...	Piano - Ettas Recording Recording Group
Ryan Curtis	...	Picnic Boyfriend
Veronika Dash	...	Blonde
Eshaya Draper	...	Charles Waters - 7 Years Old
John Farrer	...	Violinist - Ettas Recording group
Shiloh Fernandez	...	Phil Chess
Jill Flint	...	Shirley Feder
Doug W. Goldman	...	Trumpet - Ettas Recording group
Gano Grills	...	Slick Pimp
Suzette Gunn	...	Minnie
Evan Hart	...	Young lover
Osas Ighodaro	...	Vicky - Maid
Kevin Jackson	...	Mysterious Black Man
Albert Jones	...	Hubert Sumlin
Nate Jones	...	Etta's Recording Group
Rayan Lawrence	...	Harmonica Player
Chyna Layne	...	Juanita
Malikha Mallette	...	Little Walter's girlfriend
Kevin Mambo	...	Jimmy Rogers
Aaron Munoz	...	Manager
Anthony Del Negro	...	Bandstand Dancer
Natasha Ononogbo	...	Muddy Waters' Girlfriend
Ginnie Randall	...	Muddy Waters Grandmother
Norman Reedus	...	Chess
Jake Robards	...	Robert
Jay O. Sanders	...	Mr. Feder
Stephen Seidel	...	Officer Brown
Derrick Simmons	...	Dice Player
Valence Thomas	...	James Cotton
Dwan Dink Young	...	Drums - Ettas Recording group

MPAA:

Rated R for pervasive language and some sexuality.

Runtime:

109 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #44889) | UK:15 | Ireland:15A | Singapore:M18 | Sweden:11 | Japan:PG-12 | Netherlands:16

Filming Locations:

Louisiana, USA

Company:

Parkwood Pictures

Trivia:

Matt Dillon was originally meant to play Leonard Chess but ultimately couldn't do the movie. Adrien Brody replaced him.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Leonard Chess drives away from the studio for the last time, he looks into the rear-view mirror; we see the Chess sign as it really is, and not as a reverse image.

Quotes:

Muddy Waters: You alright? Damn it.
Little Walter: I had no business being that pretty anyway.

Movie Connections:

References "Bandstand" (1952)

This boring, superficial movie could've been better. TQS Breakdown PROS/CONS

1. It was a necessary history lesson for young people in understanding where most of today's music originated from.(PRO)

2. Jeffrey Wright gave a good performance as Muddy Waters. He was amusing at times with enough mystique to make him interesting without making him a total bafflement.(PRO)

3. Mos Def was good as Chuck Berry. This had plenty to do with the fact that his character was the most engaging. He was witty and talented, possessing most of the film's admirable qualities.(PRO)

4. Beyonce gave her best performance to date. She was captivating at times. Seductive.(PRO)

========================================

1. I was bored. The movie took too long for anything real to happen. The first thirty minutes played like an uneventful montage between Chess and Waters.(CON)

2. The characters were all one dimensional. Every single one of them. They were as much developed as characters in dramatizations one would see on "America's Most Wanted." In fact, the whole film felt like one big dramatization about the rise and fall of Cadillac Records. The dots never connected.(CON)

3. I didn't engage with any of the characters. In other words, I couldn't care less. Oh, your father doesn't want anything to do with you? I don't care. Are the police working you over for being a loud mouth? I don't care. You feel slighted because your husband is out having babies with other women? (yawn) Get in line. I know there were too many characters to develop them all fully and appropriately, in which case the story should have focused on the necessary few. In some cases, they all seem to be doing something that made me disconnect from them even more, like the kid Little Walters. I had a problem with everything he did. He would act out and do cowardly things to people. Where were the humanistic qualities in most of them? They all seem to be looking out for themselves, except for Muddy Waters. I never pitied any of them. They were flawed but we never go to know their inner, personal or extra-personal conflicts. And they seemed to be predictable.(CON)

4. The transitions were not smooth at all. The story and editing together felt choppy, erratic and disjointed. This goes back to my point about the film never "connecting the dots." One minute we're here, the next we're there, cutting a time we needed to understand or see simple yet eventful things like Chess getting married.(CON)

5. Adrian Brody's performance was mediocre at best in a futile effort to breath life into a character without focus. I knew I was in trouble in the first scene, with him staring in the wake of a Polish father dragging his daughter away from him. He uttered something about one day his wife "will drive a Cadillac," the worst execution of a line in Brody's career.(CON)

6. Too much musical number scenes and not enough story. It wasn't a musical. So, what's with the constant music being played? Also, the music was so loud it clouded out the already difficult to make-out dialogue. The sound mixer should have been replaced with one who understands the necessity of dialogue in a film like this.(CON)

7. The rest of the performances were not good at all. Gabrielle Union's facial expressions made her look like she was going mad instead of being emotional about her circumstances. And what's that thing she does with her lips folded in? Columbus Short was terrible. Cedric the Entertainer was just... there. Emmanuelle Chriqui looked like she was asking in her mind, "Why am I here?"

8. I didn't believe the whole atmosphere of the film. I mean, the over all film had no life. I guess this was responsible for me being bored. I blame the writer/director.(CON)

9. Beyonce's best wasn't enough. I said it was her best performance but it wasn't very good in my opinion. When she wasn't captivating and seductive, she was whiny and boring. In the scene at the restaurant, Etta exploded in rage, throwing a glass at the floor and for that brief moment, it felt like I was watching Effie White from "Dreamgirls." The voice, the tone, the execution of the line as she breaks the glass. Besides that one unique moment of her list of underwhelming beats, she was flat and her character was all over the place. I see, like in "Dreamgirls," she still have trouble staying in the moment for a whole scene. There will be a flash of Etta James or whomever she was impersonating, then it'll be Beyonce trying to act the rest of the way. Her performance and character was inconsistent. But, she was very easy on the eyes.(CON)

IN CLOSING: I was constantly asking myself about these characters, "What does he/she want and how is he/she trying to get it?" There was never any real inciting incident and the ending was anti-climatic. And for all those who are betting their home on Beyonce winning an Oscar for her performance in this film, let me be the one to save you all from being homeless in what appears to be the coldest winter in years (at least those that live in cold places like the NYC). Not only will Beyonce NOT win an Oscar for this, she will also be overlooked for a nomination by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.