And The Reviews Are In...

The reviews for Cadillac Records have been pretty good, but it's Beyonce's performance as Etta James that's receiving Oscar buzz and critical acclaim. The critics are raving her. Check em' out for yourself.

Etta James

But James, 70, attended the premiere in Los Angeles last week and gave Beyonce a raving thumbs up. "She did a good job. I just think I'm really blessed that she did this movie and she did it like she did," she said. James noted that "she wasn't a brat like I've been," she said, laughing. The singer was also impressed with Beyonce's research for the film. "She didn't know me from Adam's housecat," James said, explaining that she didn't pal around with Beyonce or spend time with her while she was working on the movie. "She knew how to do it because she read that book," James said.

James' autobiography "Rage to Survive," was released in 1995 that details her life story, from not knowing her father to her music career to how she escaped her drug addiction.

"I can pick the thing apart, but I wouldn't pick it apart because it was a great movie, a great movie," she said. James enjoyed it so much that she wants to see it again this weekend. "They said they're going to get me a DVD. I'm just going to look at it until it just melts off the screen," she said. [x]

New York Times Review

“Cadillac Records” would be worth seeing for the music alone. Mr. Wright’s renditions of Muddy Waters’s signature songs are more than respectable, while Ms. Knowles’s interpretations of Ms. James’s hits — “At Last” and “I’d Rather Go Blind,” in particular — are downright revelatory.

And so, it should be said, is Ms. Knowles’s performance. In her previous film roles she has seemed guarded and tentative, as if worried that her charisma would melt from too much emotional heat. Here, playing a needy, angry, ferociously talented and fantastically undisciplined woman, she is as volcanic and voluptuous as an Italian movie star. Or, more to the point, a real soul diva of the old school. [x]

Rollingstone

Beyonce Knowles could have nabbed an Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actress. That's how good she is playing it all sexy, sassy and druggy as Etta James, the R&B singer who found the soul in songs like "At Last." Too bad for Knowles that she's only part of Darnell Martin's rushed mess of a movie that jams the story of Chicago-based Chess Records into one incoherent package. Adrien Brody plays Leonard Chess, who started the company in the 1950s with his brother Phil (we hardly see him) to record great blues artists and pay them with Caddys. There's Jeffrey Wright as Muddy Waters, Eamonn Walker's as Howlin' Wolf, and a lively Mos Def as Chuck Berry. It's all a blur, except for the music. That's workin'. [x]

Entertainment Weekly

Just as Berry cracks the pop charts, he's sidetracked by the law. (Coincidence? You decide.) His slot gets filled by Etta James, a torch rocker and junkie played by Beyoncé Knowles, who just about burns a hole in the screen with her sultry torment. As a woman who rocked the house but could get no satisfaction, Beyoncé does a Lady Sings the Blues in miniature. Now will someone give this lady a great lead role? [x]

My San Antonio

...Beyoncé doesn't show up with her mesmerizing performance as blues balladeer Etta James until the movie is about halfway finished spinning its story and its 45s.

For the most part, the actors do their own singing. When Beyoncé digs deep for James' signature ballad “At Last,” this “Cadillac” hits overdrive. She delivers a knockout performance that could figure in end-of-the-year kudos.

Overshadowed, and frankly outgunned, by newcomer and eventual Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson in “Dreamgirls” two years ago, Beyoncé makes sure that doesn't happen again.

Wright, a gifted actor (a CIA agent in “Quantum of Solace”), comes close as Waters. So does Brody, as the father figure with ironclad control of the books and his singers. And, for that matter, so does Short (“Quarantine”) as Little Walter, and even TV actor Eamonn Walker (“Oz,” “ER”) as proud blues belter Howlin' Wolf.

When Beyoncé commands the screen as drug-addled or music-channeling James, though, this stage belongs solely to her.

This is the best kind of musical biography. The musical numbers (all terrific, by the way) don't get in the way of the story. They just magnify the story points and keep this tale moving along.

Music lovers paying close attention might be thrown off a little by the somewhat fuzzy timeline that appears to blur the '50s and '60s. The Rolling Stones come calling to meet Muddy Waters while Elvis is still slinging a leg and singing from atop flatbed trucks, for instance. [x]

Salon.com

Knowles, in particular, gives one of the finest performances I've seen all year. Her Etta James is manipulative and breakable, unapologetically sexy but also deeply guarded -- embodying the very contradictions that play themselves out in James' music...

..What's more, Knowles' ardent, shivery version of "I'd Rather Go Blind" doesn't attempt to top James' original (as if anyone could). Instead, it's a reinterpretation that adds yet another layer -- a stratus made up of myth and all-too-real hardship -- to an already rich and conflicted story. "Cadillac Records" doesn't set the story straight. Instead, it simply gets it right, half-truths, exaggerations and all. [x]

AZ Central

Particularly good is Beyonce Knowles as Etta James, the baby-faced addict filled to bursting with fragile vulnerability and explosive talent. She's so good, in fact, you want the whole movie to be about her, her love for the label owner, and her battles with heroin; it's her chance, a real "Lady Sings the Rhythm and Blues" part, and you want more. [x]

The Boston Herald

Brody and Knowles, meanwhile, have screen chemistry like you’ve hardly seen lately. Her depiction of James’ agonized private life and addiction and her performance of James’ legendary, sexual anthem “At Last” electrify the film. [x]

Philly Burbs

Beyonce, who served as the film’s executive producer, obviously recognized the power of the supporting role and stretched artistically to play the equally brilliant and troubled James. The singing star’s strong belief in the material might earn her an Oscar nomination as best supporting actress. [x]

The Movie Boy

As the tough yet troubled Etta James, Beyoncé Knowles (2006's "Dreamgirls") is also a standout, running away with all her scenes and showing giant strides in her climb toward becoming a legitimate actress. Knowles' onscreen performances of songs "At Last," "All I Could Do Is Cry," and "Once in a Lifetime" are such heart-rending powerhouses that, in the moment, the viewer is almost willing to forgive the film for being so uneven. Almost. [x]

The Houston Chronicle

Beyoncé Knowles doesn’t so much strut onscreen in Cadillac Records as she does swagger — a heavy, womanly walk that seems propelled by her ample (perhaps padded) hips. As Etta James, Knowles exudes a pure, forceful sexuality, whether she’s outstretched on a hotel bed, singing behind a studio microphone or letting fly a barrage of curse-filled rants.

It’s a bold, often-blazing performance and a sharp turn from her subtle work in Dreamgirls. Knowles plays James as a wounded, wild bird with little trust for people and even less patience for them. She even gets a meaty scene that mines a dark moment in James’ drug use. And Knowles nails several of James’ signature tunes. She turns All I Could Do Was Cry and I’d Rather Go Blind into tragic, tear-stained emotional statements.

The trouble with Cadillac Records, though, is that Knowles — and several other standout elements — simply aren’t given enough screen time. The Houston diva doesn’t even appear until almost an hour into the film. Up until then, it’s the mildly entertaining story. [x]

NY Press

If You Liked It, Then You Shoulda Put a Wig on It

Like Lopez and Anthony, Beyoncé seizes the chance to get real. Unlike her slanderous faux-Diana Ross role in Dreamgirls, Beyoncé’s Etta James is grounded in life’s mess, not gossip. Beyoncé lets it loose with profanity, but her Etta’s also part “baby girl” (daughter of the white billiard champ Minnesota Fats and a black hooker, she’s an authentic child of American mixing).

This isn’t just a gaudy star turn; coming midway in the story, it’s whiz-kid Beyonce again startling us with how much she knows about womanliness: the way James forged herself out of resentment and guts, troubled by racism and men’s estimation. She’s a fucked-up innocent. Dabbling in prostitution, James finds part of herself via singing (losing the other part via drugs). Beyoncé’s platinum blond bob and strong hips redeem James-the-loser; she stands and belts as a taller, vibrant image of the legendary “Peaches.” Her “I’d Rather Go Blind” isn’t a copy, it’s a damn good tribute. [x]

The Daily Aztec

...Particularly captivating was Knowles as Etta James. Already an established singer in her own right, Knowles managed to play the role of the troubled, feisty James with almost unrecognizable accuracy, in stark contrast to her pop star persona. Her performance of James’ real crossover hit, “At Last” was especially moving and the singer dealt with the drug and alcohol addled scenes in an ever convincing way. [x]

Cadillac Records is in theaters now.