It was soooo dialogue heavy I got lost many times. Viola Davis IS NOT the star of this movie in any way shape or form. Shes onscreen for what seemed like about 15 minutes. It was all preachy & incredibly boring to me. Glynn Turman is honestly the only one worth watching. Otherwise this "film" is a complete mess! The 1 star is only for Mr. Turman & the wicked makeup which only deepened the oddity that is the "ma Rainey" role. Extremely disappointing.