Review

Review Date: 17-September-06
Spoiler Rating: Medium
Juju Judgment: Just OK

Idlewild (2006)

Movie trailers are tricky business. They need to grab your attention. They need to show you just enough, but not too much, of the atmosphere and plot. Done right, they may achieve an individual perfection. But in succeeding, they run the risk of creating high expectations which the film they advertise can't reach. Such was the case with "Idlewild." The trailer proclaimed a rollicking, foot-stomping musical with enough energy to light up a city skyline. It seemed to promise something new and fresh in a medium that was old-fashioned and classic. In short, it made the movie look like a whole lot of fun. Yet it's really only a modest portion of fun.

Written and directed by Bryan Barber, "Idlewild" takes place in Georgia during Prohibition. It's the story of two childhood friends: gentle, retiring Percival (André Benjamin) and bawdy, outgoing Rooster (Antwan A. Patton). (The actors apparently go by other names in their incarnation as rap stars, but I'm too square to know about that.) By the time they're in their late twenties, Rooster is a family man who nevertheless sings and chases girls in a nightclub while Percival plays the piano. His breezy life changes after a murder leaves him in charge of the club with a sadistic thug (the riveting Terrence Howard) at his back. Meanwhile (and I wish the pair of tales was more intertwined to make the friendship more prominent), Percival's life is also changing with the arrival of a beautiful singer named Angel Davenport (Paula Patton, the Whitney Houston of the '00s). She inspires him to break out of the shadow of his undertaker father (Ben Vereen) and pursue his musical dreams.

The movie does generate a certain amount of pizzazz with a lively narrative style and several infectious tunes. (Alas, a winning song in Percival's cuckoo clock-filled bedroom is cut short before fully taking off.) Yet its energy lacks focus as the script stretches to accommodate multiple motifs that grow increasingly formulaic. What I was hoping for — "Some Like It (Hip) Hop" with more dancing and less cross-dressing — gets buried under family issues, car chases, tragedy, violence, and a moral or two. Pieces click, but the total might have been more by being less. Still, "Idlewild" is Barber's feature film debut. Maybe next time he can fill 100 minutes with something that lives up to its trailer.

Copyright © 2006 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.