I was skeptical about watching this movie at first because I felt it was yet another vehicle to re-launch Beyonce’s ailing acting skill. I find her to be emotionally vapid whether she is the love interest in that Pink Panther movie or her lackluster performance on Dreamgirls. Also, I felt that her squeakiness could change the image of Etta James in my head. This, with the fact that I felt Adrien Brody was cast to offset her banality as an actress was frown-worthy.

I was wrong. Beyonce shined, while Brody stalled. The character of Etta James came out to be rock and roll enough for me and (other than minor script falseness like Etta James being successful only after joining Chess Records) the story tied the race struggle and the evolution of what we know as rock and roll now very well. It’s like a serious of mini-biographies that wrap up the careers of legends like Muddy Waters, Etta James, Chuck Berry, to name a few. 

The soundtrack is a saviour and the depiction of the white theft of the genre of blues is not curtailed. Moreover, the movie managed to sync well given the broad subjects it tackled.