Idlewild (2006)

Review by All Movie Guide
Ordinarily, a Prohibition-era drama filled with gangsters and zoot suits, released in 2006, wouldn't seem to have its finger on the cinematic pulse. But envision the cast as African-American, use a slick production design and computer-animated props, and make it a vehicle for the frontmen of the popular crossover band Outkast? Idlewild might have brought in audiences from all demographics. Might have. There was no way to know that Big Boi (Antwan Andre Patton) and Andre 3000 (Andre Benjamin) would be so incapable of reproducing the mischievous joy of their Grammy-winning double album (Speakerboxx/The Love Below) -- when the audience was anticipating that level achievement or better. It's not like the teasingly few songs are out-and-out bad, but when a musical act known for its catchy zeitgeist anthems turns in material this un-hummable, one wonders how much they cared about the task at hand. And without the music as propulsion, the story just lies there, depending on the passable but pedestrian acting skills of the leads. Writer-director Bryan Barber badly miscalculates by imagining the story as a melodrama, in turn forgetting the whimsy that's part and parcel to Outkast's music. And that brings the tone all out of synch on those rare occasions when the music does find a burst of vitality. Then there are the choices that just don't work. For some reason, there's a computer-animated flask that talks to Patton's character, Rooster. The flask might have worked as a surrealistic sidekick, but Barber doesn't follow through, giving the flask only a handful of lines sprinkled randomly throughout the script. It's quite heartening that the money was there to make this movie look as good as it does. It's equally regrettable, though, that Idlewild can't gather together a commodity that has no such definite price -- ideas. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide