Get ON UP - very short take on James Brown biopic

For a film about the hardest working man in show business, the godfather of soul and x other number of monikers this film was surprisingly lackluster and I'm not sure why.  The acting was top notch throughout by both main and supporting actors.  There was something a little schizophrenic about this film, at times it felt right on the money and at other times it completely let me down.  Can be summarized thus:  it's both dazzling and boring in equal measures, at least it was for me.

Ultimately it was a meh for me never really liked James Brown only like a few of his songs, not surprisingly one of the standout sequences, for me, was the performance of "This Is A Man's World" which given the volatile nature of his relationship with women turns out to be quite ironic indeed..  Story is told in episodic fashion, not chronological which would have been OK if there had been more emphasis on Brown's creative processes which were totally given short shrift in this film. There was little in terms of the civil rights background and struggles  which were going on at the time except for one totally gratuitous scene staged more for effect than for enlightenment. His relationship with women was also poorly done, still don't know how many wives, kids he had etc....he was an abuser but that was barely touched upon. It's significant that the one time Brown hits one of his wives the director chooses to only show the after effect of the hitting so as not to somehow taint Brown's image.
 Chadwick Boseman was phenomenal as Brown although he was difficult to understand, he could have kept the cadences of Brown's speech, which were quite particular, and placed a lot more emphasis on refining the  elocution. It's frustrating when one has to fight to understand the main actor throughout most of the film. Also a stand out was Nelson Ellis as the long suffering band mate Bobby Byrd who only gave up on Brown towards the middle of Brown's career when the singer was at the height of his success and received rapturously in France.  Felt that Dan Akryod did an OK job as Ben Bart, Brown's manager, a mere sleepwalking role for him with a paycheck at the end or maybe I'm being cynical. James Brown's legacy as a musical prodigy still holds.  He was an uncompromising genius when it came to his music, would have loved to feel the beat more in my heart rather than be told about feeling it.