Overview: A loose biopic of the birth and heyday of the Chicago blues and the artists who populated legendary Chess Records, including pioneers such as Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Etta James, Little Walter, and Willie Dixon. Cadillac Records relies on a handful of basic historical facts and creates drama around them, chronicling poverty, the pursuit of fame and riches (but mostly fame), shady dealings, addiction, bigotry rampant in post-World War II America, racial integration, and how musical creativity and originality eventually won the day.

The Lowdown: While Beyonce plays a very convincing Etta James (especially when she delivers her renditions of timeless tracks such as “At Last” and “I’d Rather Go Blind”), the drug-addled diva doesn’t appear until halfway through the flick. Instead Jeffrey Wright and his killer performance as Muddy Waters carry Cadillac Records from beginning to final scene.

First we find Waters giving up sharecropping and trekking north to Chicago, where he makes a name for himself as a virtuoso slide guitarist and a prodigious womanizer, even after his marriage to longsuffering Geneva Wade (played by the understated Gabrielle Union). Soon he meets his harmonica-playing soul mate, Little Walter (Columbus Short), and then the music-loving Leonard Chess (Adrien Brody), who signs Waters, bribes radio disc jockeys to play his music, and launches Chess Records by the seat of his pants.

The gamble pays off. The label attracts other legends, including the least famous of its bluesman, Willie Dixon...yet by far its best songwriter (Dixon’s songs have been recorded by a star-studded list of artists, including Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Cream, and the Doors). Money is made, fame is acquired, and drugs, drink, violence, discontent, and financial end-arounds (along with white acts plagiarizing black artists) happen throughout the label’s lifetime. There is some vindication in the end for the venerable blues musicians who more or less created a foundation for rock ‘n’ roll, but the real story is what they went through on their way there.

Teachable Moments: This isn’t a movie you want to attend with your teenagers. Cadillac Records is raw storytelling in a very adult atmosphere—not an ideal venue for kids under your care. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t scenes you can salvage when the DVD hits the racks in three months or so. The two onscreen moments that stand out are when Chess challenges James to sing a more emotional rendition of “All I Could Do Was Cry” by recalling loss in her own life to give more weight to her singing—and the ploy works. (You’ll need to weigh how much the swearing in the scene matters in your ministry context.) Then toward the end of the flick, we find Chess cleaning out his office after selling the label he founded—and exploding in rage at his own loss, tearing down photos and breaking up the place...then soon after dying of a heart attack as he drives away from the storefront. You certainly could ignite a discussion with your students about temporal pursuits versus heavenly goals—and the fact that despite all we accomplish or acquire while we’re alive, all of that is going away eventually.

Viewer Discretion: There’s a fair amount of partial nudity to go along with your run-of-the-mill sex underneath covers, group romps in the back seats of Cadillacs and ramshackle motel rooms, and lots of suggestive, sweaty dancing to “Hoochie Coochie Man” in tiny clubs. Sex goes hand in hand with rollicking Chicago blues, and here the artists who founded the genre—and many willing female fans—live out the lyrics. Drinking to excess, smoking, and the results of drug use are rampant—which, again, doesn’t feel like an exaggeration of reality. Violence makes frequent rounds as well—and it’s oddly channeled via one artist (Little Walter) almost exclusively. The harmonica wizard engages in a bar brawl, receives a vicious beating at the hands of racist Chicago cops, fires a bullet into the head of one of his many impersonators down south, and meets his end—at the age of 37—after a disputed round of craps. So...do we even need to go into the pervasive swearing heard throughout Cadillac Records? (Who knew Beyonce was capable of such a potty mouth?)

General Appeal: Beyonce’s pop fame will translate into ticket sales for Cadillac Records, so be ye prepared for those from your group who’ll catch the flick for that reason. Rap fans will enjoy Mos Def (who’s developed into a superb screen presence over the last several years) as Chuck Berry, and Cedric the Entertainer plays a small-but-crucial role as Dixon and the narrator. Cadillac Records could draw plenty of teenagers to the box office given the aforementioned celebrity factors.

The Final Grade: Entertainment value—B+; ministry value—C-