Acensbart
Excellent but underrated film
Hayden Kane
There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes
Billy Ollie
Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
eric262003
To all those from a younger generation than mine, who thinks that the 1990's are ancient history, it's very complex in telling a story set in the Prohibition Era situated in the small town of Idlewild, Georgia. Newbie director Bryan Barber thought he found the solution. First grab a bunch of singing sensations and provide a soundtrack that doesn't depend on the authentic sounds of jazz and blues, but instead replace the genre of music to hip-hop (just like Baz Luhrmann has done in his period piece films). Sadly even though Barber provides some of the set pieces, an important staple was missing in action here. The script was very spotty in detail and feels very loosely attached here. The clichés are aplenty and the transitions can be quite incongruent. Although I can appreciate Barber for his efforts as a director, he's still in heavy need of improvement when writing scripts."Idlewild" just doesn't have enough songs for it to pass off as a musical with the minimal selection of only five songs which in total last for about 15 minutes. And of the musical numbers three of them are situated at the club, even though they're catchy and the tempo is very uplifting. But the musical numbers feel like I'm in a music video than an actual movie. It's no surprise at that because Barber's first claim to fame was directing videos for OutKast who star in this vehicle. The scenery and photography look authentic and the costumes were stylish for the period, but the hip-hop score can be very distracting. It doesn't feel like a period piece at times.The story centres around the lives of two friends since youth Percival (Andre "3000" Benjamin) and Rooster (Antwan "Big Boi" Patton) who go their separate lives into their adulthood. Percival becomes a dedicated worker at a mortuary with his father Percy Sr. (Ben Vereen) while fixated with his true passion, music at night at a club called Church. Rooster is the main act there and has a future as owner whenever the current owner Ace (Faizon Love) decides to step down. Even though Rooster is married with five children, he's still an inebriate and a philanderer. While Percival is single and without a girlfriend, he does develop some interest in the new attraction star Angel (Paula Patton). The plot starts to thicken when a local gangster named Trumpy (Terence Howard) enters the fray and kills his boss Spats (Ving Rhames) and then assassinates Ace leaving the Church at the hands of Rooster while Trumpy supplies him with moonshine. The duo despise and the conflict is inescapable.The performances were overall really good, though nothing special. Benjamin and Patton don't have a lot of acting credits on their resume, they still manage to give it their all and never feel upstaged by the more established performers who also seem to excel in their respected roles. Paula Patton is amazing in her performance and her breakout number is extraordinary. You have great familiar stars like Ben Vereen, Patti LaBelle, Macy Gray and the late Bill Nunn here. It's a shame that we don't hear LaBelle or Vereen singing which is what I was expecting. And though his role is one-dimensional Terence Howard can still add that charm quite professionally.For fans of OutKast, it will be treasured, but the appeal can be quite puzzling. The tone can be very uncertain at times. The musical and fantasy elements lack in cohesion especially when the gangster scenes come into play. Not only that the talking liquor flask and animated musical numbers seem to not fit in at times. The movie is way too serious in delivery and the tragedy has no room for spontaneous, jovial fantasy sequences. Sure it may be original in content, but familiarity seems to be inescapable. The product might be high in diversion, but there's nothing really that much special about the characters, the plot or the story which in the end makes this movie very disposable.
RaiderJack
I saw Idlewild last night for the first time and all the advance buzz on this project, still does not do it justice. This is a top-notch production with dazzling performances, excellent production standards and very imaginative cinematography.The production numbers are quite simply unstoppable and the blending of the music of the period with the sensibilities of today works beautifully. Obvious care was taken to recreate the look and feel of the period and some of the shots and film sequences, most notably a love scene and a death scene were simply mesmerizing.I indeed admit that the script itself could have been more compelling but there is no denying the power of Andre Benjamin in this production. His performance is measured, believable, poised, and poignant. He has a more than promising future in films.This is an excellent and a most worthy representation of another dimension/time in African-American culture and a MUST for your collection if you want quality productions of African-American life.I highly recommend!
The_Censored_Poster
My biggest problem is that I don't know what this was. Was this a musical that was too much of a movie, or a movie that was too much of a musical? The problem is you can't blend them. Either it is a musical or it is not- and if that isn't clear from the get-go, the suspension of disbelief will not exist within the work.From the very beginning of the movie I had a problem with the suspension of disbelief. I didn't like effect of the freeze frames with the expanding pictures during the credits. I didn't like the fact that they were still rolling credits after 16 damn minutes. And when the rooster on the canteen became animated, a little kid barely able to see over the dashboard borrowed a hearse and DROVE it, and another kid's sheet music became animated, I knew that it was about to be a LONG 2 hours...It was.Had the music/musical scenes been strongly to my liking, I suppose I could have enjoyed this movie as a guilty pleasure like Prince's "Graffiti Bridge". But the music was horrible. In fact, there was nothing upon which I could found a liking of this movie on any level. From a picture book full of dead people in coffins; Andre's ugly beard and mole; animated characters/musical scenes that just didn't fit- Such as Rooster speeding away for his life in a car and rapping; and two full hours of play time; this movie was simply an unlikable piece of work.And one last personal pet peeve: The so called "hit song" that Miss Sally B Shelly AKA Angel Davenport was singing that supposedly made her a star, and kept the club packed was.. AN EXTREMELY WACK SONG. Another failure of the suspension of disbelief to exist for me.Someone commented that this movie was like a African American "Moulin Rouge". Funny thing is that I did think of Moulin Rouge when I first saw the Church club. But Moulin Rouge was enjoyable (even though I never felt the need to see it more than once) primarily because it KNEW what it was- an over the top musical- and the music/musical scenes were VERY good with very strong and memorable songs. Idlewild was exactly the opposite. This movie had no idea what it was.... at the sad thing is, that this was the least of it's problems...
cafesmitty
This was a really solid film with some surprisingly excellent performances. I know, its basically Andre 3000 and Big Boi (Outkast) playing themselves but I really enjoying watching them act. The story is bit more on the purple rain part with Andre being the uber-talented piano player. And on top of that, it has nice visual styling. The story is basically about a club in Idlewilde, Georgia where Andre 3000 and Big Boi perform at, what seems, a nightly basic. A beautiful singer blows into town and becomes a separate story herself. Like all singers, she wants to be bigger than she currently is and perhaps Idlewilde will help achieve her goals. You have your typical bad guy performance from Terrence Howard, who always looks as if he is one reason away from killing you. So he is pretty much typecast. Nevertheless if you are going to typecast anyone as a bad guy, you might as well get the best (Howard). Like I said, a good movie, but would have been a better movie if the songs, composed for the movie, were better. I mean, at the beginning of the movie, the crowd is ravenous for Big Boi character, Rooster, to come out and perform and when he did, I was less than impress with the song. He just doesn't have the voice to "sing". He was extremely off keyed. Andre 3000, who has a better "voice", but his singing weren't all the great either. Perhaps it was his falsetto voice. I mean they are good together as Outkast, good performers, but it doesn't translate well to a musical. And the thing is, it starts out so promising with Macy Gray song performances and it all goes down here from there (song wise). None, and I do mean NONE of the songs are memorable enough to recall (unlike in films like Purple Rain, the Cotton Club, Moulin Rouge, even the South Park movie). And it was because of this "flaw" that held the movie back. If they had better song to sing, or better voices, this movie would have truly shined. Still, because of everything else in the film, the acting, the storyline, the stunning visualization, the set, the showmanship, I give this film a 7 out of 10. (well more like a 6.7 but I rounded up).
