Get On Up

About a month since Jersey Boys and another music Biopic is upon us. It's Get On Up and unlike the other film, it wasn't really dull. Let's see what else it is.

The film follows the rise and fall and return of The Godfather of Soul, James Brown (Chadwick Boseman). James gets arrested for disturbing the peace, among other charges, in 1988. His mother (Viola Davis) leaves him to be raised by his abusive father (Lennie James). His father leaves him with James's Aunt Honey (Octavia Spencer). James becomes the face, if not the entirety, of the Famous Flames group. He's arrested at 17 for theft and meets Bobby Byrd (Nelsan Ellis).

I'm not mixing my notes.

The film is one of those Biopics that puts a playlist of time periods on shuffle. It goes back and forth between those periods at almost anytime. Some of the time jumps are rather odd. For instance, I have no idea why young James was in a junior, one-armed boxing match. It doesn't explain.

Chadwick Boseman's performance was as elaborate as James Brown was. His dancing was energetic and his voice was a good match. How do I know it's a good match? Because much of the singing is actually Brown's recordings. And the transition between Boseman and Brown wasn't jarring. The music was mixed pretty well.

Amongst the supporting cast, the best are Ellis as Byrd and Dan Aykroyd as manager Ben Bart. Both try to help and advise Brown during his dark days. Though in Byrd's case, he sometimes wonders if help is even possible. Aykroyd, meanwhile, makes for a warm mentor figure.

Get on Up's time jumps will need some getting used to. It's still an entertaining Biopic which gets you to care about its subject even when he's full of it. It really makes the most of its 137 minutes. Hope it's remembered six months from now.