Even if you can miraculously avoid comparing this take on rock & roll record maker Leonard Chess (Nivola) to 2008’s similar Cadillac Records, Jerry Zaks’s lukewarm biopic still won’t get your fingers snapping; it’d be a runt in any litter. Granted, this life-and-times adaptation doesn’t rely on celebrity stunt-casting, but it also lacks any of the heat, heart or soul associated with the music Chess released. The film seems content to just trot out chronological events, change names (Etta James inexplicably becomes “Ivy Mills”) and allow Nivola to perfect his accented utterances of the word motherfucker.—David Fear
Who Do You Love

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