Critic Reviews

• Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader

  It was muscled out of the marketplace by Cadillac Records, Sony's glossy, star-studded movie about Leonard. But it's clearly the better movie, earthier, wittier, and more intimate in its treatment of America's racial divide in the 1950s.

• Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

  I think more edge is needed, more reality about the racial situation at the time, more insight into how and why R&B and rock 'n' roll actually did forever transform societies in America and the world.

• Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor

  In the end, the most striking thing about Leonard is that he never seems to stop smoking.

• Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times

  It's the terrific music and amusing array of characters that keep the picture afloat.

• Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger

  If you're really interested in Chess Records, why go to this film at all when you could be at home actually listening to Chess records?

• Stephen Holden, New York Times

  Has neither the star power nor the epic sense of itself that infused Cadillac Records, the 2008 film on the same subject.

• Matt Pais, Metromix.com

  Crackles with the sense of discovering genius that's ready to be heard and distributed.

• Nora Lee Mandel, Film-Forward.com

  Isn't the blues supposed to be cathartic and rock 'n' roll liberating? Recording maestro Chess is too tense and grim, and there are few joyous musical moments.

• Pam Grady, Boxoffice Magazine

  An engaging portrait of the man behind the artists.

• Kurt Loder, MTV

  Less than two years after the so-so "Cadillac Records," here comes "Who Do You Love," which is so-so in different ways.

• Marshall Fine, Hollywood & Fine

  Zaks finds the life in every scene, even the more clichéd ones...it feels like a celebration of a seminal musical moment, for all its flaws.

• Donald J. Levit, ReelTalk Movie Reviews

  Recreated performances backing the more than nostalgic music of the era are worth the ticket, but the rest is more borscht than history.

• Noel Murray, AV Club

  In short: we see the Chess Records story simplified and telegraphed. But at least the cast doesn't act as though they're mired in the biopic muck.

• Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice

  Another behind-the-scenes look at the formation and success of Chess Records in Chicago during the 1950s and 1960s.

• Armond White, New York Press

  In Who Do You Love? everything that Chess Records has come to symbolize about pop culture, race relations or the blues transitioning into rock 'n' roll gets flattened. It perceives American history in reverse.

• Doris Toumarkine, Film Journal International

  Well-made, terrifically acted biopic about the Chicago Chess Brothers and their legendary Chess label and artists who propelled blues into a new genre called rock 'n' roll. A cornucopia of great music, though some cinematic notes are off-key.

• Kam Williams, NewsBlaze

  Too bad this flick lost the race to the theaters with Cadillac Records, otherwise director Jerry Zaks might've had a hit on his hands instead of a Johnny Come Lately destined to be forever thought of as a cheap imitation.

Read all 17 critic reviews