Get On Up

    Chadwick Boseman stars as the "Godfather of Soul", James Brown in this new drama. Mr. Boseman is creating quite the career for himself portraying iconic figures in history. He was terrific in "42" as Jackie Robinson and shines here as James Brown, which is clearly not an easy task. He has all the moves down perfectly and embodies the man as well as the legend.

     The film co- stars Nelsan Ellis as Bobby Byrd, his long time friend and band member, Dan Ackroyd as his manager, Viola Davis as his mother who abandons him early in his life, and Octavia Spencer, who raises him when his father joins the army. The cast is excellent and all the acting in the film never feels false. Jamarion Scott plays Mr. Brown as a boy and he is a natural.

     While the acting and all the music are first rate, I can't say the same for the screenplay. The story is disjointed and all over the place, jumping around in time.  The film is broken down into significant periods in Mr. Brown's life but never sticks to a particular time frame. Plot lines are introduced and then left dangling, unresolved. The story would have been better served with a linear plot and maybe an occasional flashback but here the technique is misused and doesn't add anything to the story exception confusion.

      We are treated to important moments in Mr. Brown's life as well as in our own history. It's an honest portrait as it also doesn't shy away from Mr. Brown's drug use and abusive nature. He was a genius and a musical icon but as he says in the film, " you pay the cost to be the boss".