(EW) -- How on earth is a movie about James Brown rated PG-13? The Godfather of Soul not only oozed sin and raw sexuality from the stage, but his life off it was one long rap sheet of domestic-violence charges, blackout drug benders, and indiscriminate gunplay. To be fair, all of this is touched on in Tate Taylor's ("The Help") biopic of the Hardest Working Man in Show Business â€” but with kid gloves. "Get On Up" too often plays it safe when it needs to be dangerous. 'Get On Up' trailer: The evolution of James Brown It doesn't help that writers Jez and John-Henry Butterworth chronologically pinball around like Ritalin-starved kids, never trusting the audience to take in the full sweep of the R&B singer's life. In the opening reel alone, the film jumps from 1988 (a high-speed chase with the cops that resulted in jail time) to 1968 (performing under fire in Vietnam) to 1939 (his impoverished Georgia childhood).
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Tate Taylor directed this biopic about James Brown
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Chadwick Boseman as the Godfather of Soul is the best thing about the film
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The story too often plays it safe when it needs to be dangerous
The best thing the movie has going for it is @placeholder's live-wire channeling of Brown.