Who Do You Love?

Chess Records story has the blues

Jerry Zaks’ Who Do You Love? is the most recent biopic to fall victim to the form’s ironic limitations—any life worth making a movie about is far too vast to condense into a two-hour film, making shortcuts necessary. With rushed plot developments and tired emotional touchstones, once again we are left with more of a slideshow than a movie. The story of Chess Records founder Leonard Chess—a Jewish man who introduced the world to artists like Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon and Bo Diddley—is fascinating. Alessandro Nivola turns in a solid performance as the passionate but haunted Chess, David Oyelowo is charming and charismatic as Muddy Waters, and there are a few joy-of-making-music scenes that’ll bring a smile to fans’ faces. But ultimately the movie is too shallow to leave much of a lasting impact.