I heard about this terd a while ago while talking to an actor who turned down the role of Leonard Chess...the knowledge base that was used to make this movie didnt stretch beyond the opening paragraph of the wikipedia entry for Chess.b, 21b, 21It is going to be a joke.
I saw a screening last night. Jeffrey Wright makes the movie. He's one of my favorite actors, and he definitely carries this one. Adrien Brody is decent, as is Columbus Short as Little Walter. I didn't think Beyonce was bad. My problem was she didn't quite have the edge that Etta did (though they tried to give it to her), and even more than that, when she was singing, I kept thinking, Beyonce's good, rather than, she's giving Etta. I wish she had been played by an actor and had the actor lip sync. It was just too Beyonce. And there was definitely some cringe to the film, but overall it's totally worth seeing.
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