Get on Up 2014

Christy Lemire, ChristyLemire.com: In Boseman's hands - and his feet, and his entire body, for that matter - he demands and earns our attention. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: One funk-tastic musical biopic. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: Before and after everything else, "Get On Up" is about the transformative power of performance. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Unexpectedly buoyant; it skims over a life as if tunefully improvising, touching just the right note here and there. Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: Incarnating James Brown in all his ornery uniqueness, [Boseman] deserves a Pulitzer, a Nobel and instant election to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Read more

Scott Foundas, Variety: Whatever else one may fault about "Get On Up," one thing that's faultless is its star, Chadwick Boseman, who plays Brown from age 16 to 60 with a dexterity and invention worthy of his subject. Read more

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, AV Club: Get On Up is the Hollywood biopic at its near-worst -- a formless, extravagant assortment of historical incidents and lip-synched musical numbers ... Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Boseman nails Brown's idiosyncratic style of speaking, and, although no one is Brown, he has some pretty swell dance moves. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: A messy, qualified triumph that even at 138 minutes makes an incomplete case for Brown's meaning to American life and culture, but a triumph nevertheless. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: Straightforward but highly entertaining. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Everything about "Get on Up," a provocatively structured and unusually rich musical biopic, is a little better, a little less formula-bound, a little sharper than the average specimen in this genre. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: The storytelling is mostly linear, with some confusing back-and-forth in the chronology, and it's a long slog. The Brown who emerges from this film has a monstrous ego to go with his monster talent. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: It avoids the predictable narrative arc - hardscrabble youth, rise to fame, descent into drugs, etc. - by scrambling the Brown chronology and shooting for a more thematic organizing structure marked by smart transitions. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: More often, the film skates along the surface of Brown's contradictory character. Now if it skated like Brown's dance moves glided onstage, that really would have been something. Read more

Adam Graham, Detroit News: Boseman is at times mesmerizing, living up to the gargantuan task of playing the American soul legend. If only the movie were as good as he is. Read more

Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly: The best thing the movie has going for it is Chadwick Boseman's live-wire channeling of Brown. Read more

Sheri Linden, Hollywood Reporter: It's that rare musician's biography with a deep feel for the music. And in Chadwick Boseman, it has a galvanic core, a performance that transcends impersonation and reverberates long after the screen goes dark. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: "Get on Up" is more frustrating than fulfilling, a disjointed film that suffers from having a more ambitious plan than it's got the ability to execute. Read more

Tony Hicks, San Jose Mercury News: Taylor deserves much of the credit for capturing the magic of Brown as entertainer, but just as much credit must go to Boseman, who not only re-creates Brown's explosive stage moves, but dominates every other scene he's in. Read more

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: Get On Up delivers the funk, which Brown himself would tell you never dies. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: "Get on Up" turns Brown's life into an even bigger mess. Read more

David Denby, New Yorker: Chadwick Boseman gives a startling and galvanic performance. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: To put music and race aside, and then try to tell the story of James Brown, is to climb into the ring with both hands tied behind your back. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: Like Brown, the movie is dynamic and entertaining as hell. Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: Thrillingly captures the frenzy of Brown's music, and the forces driving that frenzy, both musical and personal. Read more

Michael Sragow, Orange County Register: Even as a musical celebration, the movie is a misfire. Instead of re-creating the ecstatic, improvisatory flow of Brown's stage act, the film cuts almost everything into glittering bits and pieces. Read more

Dan DeLuca, Philadelphia Inquirer: A well-acted entertainment that's highly respectful of the story it has to tell. It's disjointed but fun to watch. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Whatever failings the film may have, none can be laid at the feet of lead actor Chadwick Boseman, whose performance is phenomenal. Read more

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: Somewhat sanitized and over-directed biopic saved by Boseman's electric performance. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: To play James Brown, the Godfather of Soul, in Get On Up, cautious just won't cut it. No worries. Boseman tears into the role like a man possessed. You can't take your eyes off him. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: Chadwick Boseman's performance as the brilliant, arrogant and magnetic Godfather of Soul may cause theater screens coast to coast to spontaneously catch fire, split their pants at the seams and give up the funk. Read more

Jocelyn Noveck, Associated Press: Just as Brown, in life, upstaged pretty much everyone - including his bandmates, the Famous Flames - Boseman does that here. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: "Get on Up" is loud, proud, funky, soulful, sweaty, emphatic and sometimes a little hard to understand, just like its subject, James Brown. Read more

Kevin C. Johnson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: If Chadwick Boseman's turn as Jackie Robinson last year in "42" made him a star, his flashy performance in James Brown biopic "Get On Up" adds another layer of shine. Read more

Brad Wheeler, Globe and Mail: Thrives on a thrilling soundtrack, a doozy of a yarn and Chadwick Boseman's dynamite-powered portrayal of Brown. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: James Brown made his mark defying notions about beat and rhythm, and "Get on Up" embraces that idea in its storytelling and editing (by Michael McCusker). In the stodgy world of biopics, it's a sex machine. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: You have to see this thing. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: It's hard not to feel good while watching Chadwick Boseman exuberantly disappear into the role of the Godfather of Soul. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Village Voice: It's one of those experiments that's both flawed and amazing, a mainstream movie that fulfills old-fashioned, entertainment-value requirements, even as it throws off flashes of insight. Read more

Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine/Vulture: Tate Taylor's film cares less about narrative clarity and more about portraying a life lived between the extremes of sin and grace, between the abject and the sublime. It's lively, stylized, and genuinely surprising. Read more

Jen Chaney, Washington Post: These kinds of Hollywood pop stardom portraits usually flop or fly based on their casts and the ebullience of their musical scenes. "Get on Up" wins on both fronts. Read more