Full disclosure: Two years ago I was so intensely enamored with OutKastâs Andre 3000 that I carved his face into a pumpkin at Halloween. Afro and all. Manned with that slightly embarrassing nugget of my personal history, you should be fully trusting in my opinion of Idlewild, which stars our crush-worthy Andre Benjamin (swoon!) and his cohort Big Boi, and was written and directed by celebrated hiphop video director Bryan Barber (heâs done all the big OutKast videos).
If this movie is worth falling in love with, you know Iâd love the fuck out of it.
But it isnât. And I donât.
It stars OutKast, so the musical numbers are, of course, enjoyable, but thereâs also no denying that itâs simply this generationâs Moonwalker jazzed up with a little bit of Baz LuhrmannâcircaâMoulinRouge! attitude.
Through the entire film (which tells the story of a fast-paced love affair that blooms in a Georgia speakeasy in the 1930s) itâs apparent that the actors arenât actors at all. Theyâre musicians, well-choreographed dancers, and modelsâall flexing a new and slightly awkward muscle. The performances between the musical numbers are about as well done as those in Thriller; and the story it tellsâthe love between shy piano player/mortician Percival and up and coming singer Angelâis only slightly more touching than Guns Nâ Rosesâ over-the-top âNovember Rainâ video.
All of that might sound kind of harsh (okay, very harsh) but know that I love all of those things (even the G Nâ R video).
So donât go see Idlewild to be swept off your feet, because you wonât be. Go see Idlewild to confirm suspicions that Andre 3000 is one of the hottest men on the planet, Big Boi is one of the best songwriters in hiphop, and Bryan Barber is one of the greatest modern music-video directors, even in this case, when the video is an hour and a half long.