Bob Marley: One Love

Grade: D-

Throughout Bob Marley: One Love, I was either bored or only understanding 50% of what the actors were saying. It reminded me of a foreign language film that I saw 5 years ago. I watched all but the last 15 minutes with no subtitles. I didn’t think there were subtitles, and either we were supposed to take it at face value, or there would eventually be English. Nope – it was on me to turn them on, and I just didn’t. The movie in question was Cold War, and I still liked it a little bit. Bob Marley: One Love, on the other hand, is one of the most pointless, wretched, good-for-nothing wastes of time I’ve had in a theater in the last few years.

My least favorite part of writing these is the plot summary. When I read reviews, I’m more interested in how it made the critic feel, and I’m more interested in telling you how it made me feel. My favorite reviews to read are the ones where the writer makes it personal, with lots of emotion words and “I” statements. Fortunately, in the case of Bob Marley: One Love, I don’t really have to rattle off a bunch of facts about him or the film. It’s a biopic about Bob Marley. It follows the template and slavishly, uninspiringly sticks to it.

You’ve already seen the best musical moments in the trailer. The solo acoustic Redemption Song fragment by the campfire is beautiful. I wanted more exploration into the creation of the individual songs, like Bohemian Rhapsody did so well. Kingsley Ben-Adir (Malcolm X in One Night in Miami… and more recently, a Ken in Barbie) is a talented performer, but is boxed in to a sterile movie that doesn’t let him cut loose too much. Biopics about musicians are often irresistible bait for awards consideration. It’s very telling that this came out so early in the year, where it will be long forgotten about by the time we get into that season.

It almost feels like I still haven’t seen the movie. Rarely does one make me care this little. Whenever I’m getting ready to watch a new film, I imagine an empty lot of property that’s about to have a house built on it. You know those old dilapidated barns on the side of the road that look like they haven’t been touched in decades? Bob Marley: One Love aspires to be one of those.

Grade: D-