In theaters

STANDING IN THE SHADOWS OF MOTOWN. Directed by Paul Justman, written by Walter Dallas and Ntozake Shange, 108 minutes, rated PG. Now playing, Movie City 8, Bangor.

It goes without saying that Diana Ross and the Supremes, the Four Tops, Gladys Knight and the Pips, the Temptations, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson and Stevie Wonder – among so many others – wouldn’t have had their string of hits with Motown if it weren’t for that defining Motown sound.

But who were the musicians behind that sound? Berry Gordy might see it otherwise, but he didn’t pull it off alone. Indeed, Paul Justman’s new documentary, “Standing in the Shadows of Motown,” based on Allan Slutsky’s book, is betting that few know how much a handful of others were instrumental in creating that sound.

He might be right. Since it’s generally the voice behind a song that gets the attention and not those in the band, chances are many haven’t heard of the Funk Brothers, a group of black and white artists who, between the late ’50s and the early ’70s, cranked out more No. 1 hits than the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Elvis and the Beach Boys combined.

That’s 58 No. 1 hits. Songs like “Heat Wave,” “My Girl,” “I Heard it Through the Grapevine,” “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and “What’s Going On?” to name a few.

The film, from a script by Walter Dallas and Ntozake Shange, reaches back to the early years of the Detroit jazz musicians Gordy snapped up for a song, so to speak, and hired to create music for his new label, Motown.

Those musicians, some of whom are alive – Jack Ashford, Uriel Jones, Eddie Willis, Joe Hunter, Robert White, Bob Babbitt and Joe Messina – and some of whom have died – Johnny Griffith, Benny Benjamin, Eddie Brown, James Jamerson, Richard Allen, Robert White and Earl Van Dyke – are finally given their due in a film that dramatizes their early years, interviews the living and gathers together for a final concert all of the surviving members.

Joining them on stage are such singers as Chaka Khan, Bootsy Collins, Joan Osborne, Gerald Levert, Ben Harper and Meshell Ndegeocello, all of whom spark the film with rousing performances of Funk Brothers’ hits.

While the film’s dramatizations are sometimes cheesy, not unlike something you’d find on the History Channel, and the film lacks the completeness of an interview with Gordy himself, which would have given the movie added depth and lifted it to the level of “The Buena Vista Social Club,” “Standing in the Shadows of Motown” is nevertheless entertaining and important.

It puts these men squarely in the spotlight that has eluded them for years.

Grade: B+

On video and DVD

ABOUT A BOY. Written and directed by Paul Weitz and Chris Weitz, 100 minutes, rated PG-13.

Paul and Chris Weitz’s “About a Boy,” from a script the Weitzes based on Nick Hornby’s book, is the story of Will Freeman, a self-absorbed, 38-year-old London bachelor who may look like the innocent boy next door, but who’s actually little more than a cold-hearted cad.

With his carefully tousled hair, trendy clothes and ultra-modern apartment – the entirety of which seems to have been chiseled from a refrigerated block of brushed steel – Will is the very definition of chilly English shallowness, a lay-about lout who has never worked a day in his life thanks to the hefty royalties he has received from his father’s one-hit-wonder song, “Santa’s Super Sleigh.”

As you might expect from anyone whose favorite word is “brilliant,” Will’s life is anything but. So, when a troubled 12-year-old boy named Marcus (Nicholas Hoult) enters Will’s life with a heavy heart and the baggage of a suicidal mother (Toni Collette), Will gets the kick in the pants he needs -and audiences get a good movie in return.

Digging far deeper into the male psyche than they ever did in their breakout movie, “American Pie,” the Weitz brothers have made a movie that eschews sentiment and skirts the easy cliche – no small feat these days.

What’s great about their film is how content it is to just observe its characters and allow them their foibles, treating them not as people who exist solely to flesh out a script, but as flesh-and-blood human beings who can’t be contained by a script.

On paper, there’s nothing about Will that’s especially likable, so it’s to Grant’s credit that he makes him a sensitive figure worth caring for. It’s a tricky performance that stands as a slick sleight-of-hand, but Grant, backed by an excellent cast that includes Rachel Weisz as his reluctant girlfriend, breezes through the role, leaning on his considerable charm to find the root of Will’s true potential as he unwittingly matures into the man he must become.

Grade: A-

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Mondays and Fridays in Style, Tuesdays and Thursdays on WLBZ 2 and WCSH 6, and are archived on RottenTomatoes.com. He can be reached at BDNFilm1@aol.com.