PHOTO BY CHIABELLA JAMES / PARAMOUNT PICTURES

The music is the saving grace of “Bob Marley: One Love,” a largely by-the-numbers biopic. When the film gets dull — which is often — we’re left with something that’s still pretty entertaining: a reasonably convincing recreation of one of the world’s great musicians creating his most indelible songs.

The film, directed by “King Richard” helmer Reinaldo Marcus Green, covers the most tumultuous years of Marley’s (Kingsley Ben-Adir) brief life, beginning with his 1976 shooting and ending not long after the cancer diagnosis that would ultimately claim his life. There’s a “Behind the Music”-esque rise embedded somewhere in the middle, as Marley records “Exodus” and becomes a chart-topper around the world; if the film has a recurring theme, though, it’s about the icon trying to find peace amidst constant challenges.

While it doesn’t quite ignore struggles in Marley’s personal life, his wife Rita (Lashana Lynch) is treated as a pillar of support and little more. Lynch grants Rita much more depth than the screenplay does; credited to four writers (including Green), the script doesn’t leave much room for nuance. It careens from moment to moment like the recounting of a legend, too busy with where and when to consider why and how.

Ben-Adir is quite good and clearly studied the accent thoroughly; there’s no questioning the film’s commitment to the details. (Marley’s son Ziggy is credited as a producer.) The producers wisely don’t task him with singing — he lip-syncs to recordings of Marley — but he captures the legendary performer’s frantic dancing and faraway gazes with aplomb.

The pitfalls of the biopic format, however, are not avoided. Career and personal hurdles are depicted then immediately swept aside. Title cards fill in some history, where other topics — notably the complex and significant role of the Rastafarian movement in Marley’s story — are underwritten. Clunky flashbacks attempt to add context but feel like afterthoughts.

Those drawbacks balance out the strengths of “One Love” and make for a middling film. Fortunately, audiences spend two hours listening to Bob Marley sing; that’s enough to make it a worthwhile experience.

My Rating: 5/10

“Bob Marley: One Love” is now playing in theaters.