Release Date: December 4, 2008

(out of 4)

"Cadillac Records" is a flavorful overview of the R B music of the 1940’s era concentrating on a label sprang out of Chicago started by Leonard Chess (Adrien Brody), also originating from his first association with guitar virtuoso Muddy Waters (Jeffrey Wright). Waters rises on the record charts making both men rich – the music becomes legendary, the personal lives turbulent, and the money spent capriciously.

Sounds like every other musical biopic you’ve seen, but the music and the milieu makes it an alluring and supple experience. Wright is such a tremendous actor (“Basquiat,” “Broken Flowers,” “W.”) that if you know his work, you come to desire to see him brace every scene of an entire movie. For awhile, Wright’s embodiment as Muddy Waters is a constant show-stealer, but you come to realize that the whole movie isn’t about just him. Other musical artists on the Chess label make their names.

So while Wright’s Muddy Waters eventually gets less screen time, the plus side is getting to know other prime figures from old school R & B. All of them are wonderfully played by a top-notch cast. Eamoon Walker as Howlin’ Wolf, Beyoncé Knowles as Etta James, Colombus Short as Little Walter, Cedric the Entertainer as Big Willie Dixon, and Mos Def as Chuck Berry. All of them are given the ample screen time to express their robust personalities in and out of the recording room. But one wishes that the Chuck Berry portrayal was given more internal depth, although filmmaker Darnell Martin lets us get to know Beyoncé’s talent by showing us the full blown troubles of Etta James.

Leonard Chess (Adrien Brody), known for issuing brand new Cadillacs to any signed talent that sells their first hit record, is the magnet of the entire movie. His wife at home is played by the beautiful but passive Emmanuelle Chriqui (TV’s “Entourage”), but it’s his conduction of his music business that takes precedence in this film. Chess was perhaps the first guy to use payola as a business tactic. Payola was when record producers would pay off dee-jays to play their artists on the air. The film takes a quick glance at payola without really exploring into it. That’s another casualty that occurs when you try to pack in lots of great materials into one story package.

Brody, in short, is a steadfast anchor for the film who believably earns the veneration from all the artists who work underneath him. But in an industry that leads its artists to temptation in sex, drugs, booze – it’s anticipated that a few talents will blow their fuse. You have to wonder, for instance, if harmonica prodigy Little Walter (Columbus Short) would have had a lengthier career had he not trashed his own cred. Rising to such egomania, he eventually gets clubbed to a pulp by provoked policemen.

Then there was Chuck Berry, perhaps the granddaddy of rock n’ roll (Chess believes the R&B market was dying, thus, Berry’s rock n’ roll tunes augmented). Berry’s records were hitting #1 on the charts but an arrest for illegal transport of a female minor across state lines got him thrown into prison, and put his career on hold. Mos Def, as Berry, gets the exuberant “duck walk” right on and gets a couple of in-custody scenes to depict his disbelief into the scandal. But all famous stories get condensed.

The film is well-paced and never lags, but it’s also structured like a greatest hits album sampling of the criteria highs and lows. But once the script touches all the bases, the eyes always get drawn back to the mesmerizing Jeffrey Wright and the chuckling rumble of his voice. His Muddy Waters is also a philanderer, but his fixation on his long-faithful wife at home (played by Gabrielle Union) adds to the drama of sex, unfaithfulness, jealousy – and back to renewed love again. Wright exudes charismatic gusto in heavy drama. There’s no other actor out there like him.

What a good movie this is and what a great movie this could have been, too! Running at 1 hour and 48 minutes, the movie leaves you hungry for more. And also makes you wonder why the title isn’t called “Chess Records” which would make more sense. Or maybe “Cadillac Men.” Or “Chess Records and the Cadillac Men.” Beyond that, next I’d like to see a whole biopic devoted to Chuck Berry with Mos Def in the lead. And find another plum part for Jeffrey Wright. He can disappear into anything.