Idlewild
“Kast ain’t never Idle!” Reviewed by Colin O’Dell
“Idlewild” is, as you prefer, an or the OutKast movie. If you don’t know who OutKast is, it’s advisable you pick up there first five albums, make that six, because the hip hop duo’s latest, which doubles as a soundtrack for the film this review concerns, is just as wildly inventive, satisfiying, and, well, mind blowing as their first five records.
We’ll have to leave the recording artists at that except for where it overlaps with the film, tempting as it may be to continue talking only about their music, because this is a movie review. The movie, though at multiple points incredibly satisfying, isn’t quite the magnum opus we have come to expect, and get, out of their records.
To explain; “Idlewild” the title refers to the fictional town of Idlewild, Georgia where the prohibition era musical takes place. Our stars are Andre Benjamin (aka Andre 3000, known here as Percy) and Andre Patton (aka Big Boi, here Rooster). A visually stunning title sequence narrated by Percy and featuring an absolutely adorable younger version of Rooster sets the premise; Percy and Rooster are as different as night and day. Percy lives quiet and doe eyed under the strict rule of his mortician father, while Rooster grows up the brainy pimp under the tutelage of his bootlegger family. What unites the two, just as Patton and Benjamin, growing apart throughout their careers, is the music as they trade old 45’s, Percy learns piano, and Rooster sings while playing dice.
Flash forward to their young adulthood present and Rooster is a ladies man with a family. Percy still lives with his father, but the duo unite at night at the juke joint named the church where Percy plays piano and Rooster sings (rather raps) though oddly enough, usually not together. This opening sequence, which culminates in a startling number by Macy Gray and then an almost off-putting one by the rapping Rooster (incredible song and dance, just odd that he raps in this setting, but you grow accustomed to it), pulls us into a highly stylized and idealized world where flasks and musical notes talk, black life in the south is a celebration, and the depression seems as far away as the white folks that never show up in this film. It also sets us up for a paint-by–the-numbers narrative involving Roosters troubles with gangsters and Percy’s inability to grow up and move on. Right away we can tell were in for silly fun with entertaining visuals, but we don’t sense the touches of gravitas that permeate the film.
As to those touches, some of them come as Rooster must learn his way to being a faithful husband. For Percy, it’s in his past with his father, and his present and future with his music and Angel Davenport, the new singer in town. It is in these moments when “Idlewild” is more than just a fun but unfocused shoot-em up song and dance film.
As actors, I think that Benjamin has the higher potential, with a certain sadness and uniqueness to his face and his very manner. Patton is passable here as the loveable pimp but I wasn’t quite convinced he yet has the chops to pull off the leading role in anything other than an OutKast musical. It doesn’t hurt to throw actors such as Cicely Tyson, Ben Vereen, Ving Rhames, and Terence Howard into the mix, though Howard’s villain is so underdeveloped and one-dimensional he adds nothing to the film other than a reason for violence and struggle.
No, the film isn’t quite what it could have been. It’s unfocused, often jumping into visually stunning sequences, but clumsily handling those moments of characters interacting. The film was worked on over a number of years as it grew from an HBO to a theatrical film, then was held up as it waited for a soundtrack it sparingly uses (at least half of the music comes from OutKast’s previous album). Perhaps, however, its jumpiness is to be expected when the pedigree of first time writer director Bryan Barber consists solely of music videos (including all of Outkast’s which includes many fine ones’). And the plot is fairly clumsy as well.
Still, just when you may have written the film off, it hits you with something you aren’t expecting, such as the tender, erotic, and ultimately tragic relationship between Percy and miss Angel Davenport, supposedly a famous big city singer in town for a stand at the Church. The arc between the two may seem pedestrian at first, but it is anything but. And ultimately Percy’s story is the more dynamic of the two, even if Rooster’s is incredibly fun.
But, like OutKast these days, the two arcs seem more than separate. The relationship between the two supposed best friends is taken for granted; there rarely are on screen together, much less than they are on the soundtrack (which may surprise critics, especially since their last offering, “SpeakerBoxxx/The Love Below,” was virtually two separate solo albums.) I think that at its best, the film “Idlewild” may serve as a companion piece to the incredibly eclectic album of the same name. The movie can be fun, touching, and rich just as often as it is pedestrian and stereotypical, the music, and the legacy of the group, will redeem it and deem it worthy.
Story: C+
Pedestrian, but the relationship between Percy and his father and Percy and his lover gives it what the underdeveloped relationship between Percy and Rooster lacks.
Acting: C+
Howard’s character is lame, he never is. Neither is Ving Rhames. Benjamin shines as Rooster.
Visuals: B+
Great, sometimes unfocused and too fantastic
Originality/Innovation: B-
Splatters on everything and the kitchen sink, including unoriginality. But then again, a prohibition musical with rappers?
Enjoyability Grade: B
Overall Grade: B –
I may be undergrading all this due to my absolute love of “OutKast” and attempt to keep that from making me love the film. However the opening and closing of the film are worth a repeated viewing alone, especially for the young Rooster!
Idlewild the album: A + do yourself a favor and get lost in this deep, eclectic, maddeningly original album. Them boys from ATL have done it again!
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