Janai P Canada (Sidadressage) I found this film actually by at a local library. I simply thought that it would be some kind of gangster' Rapper type drama, with a little music. But as Terence Howard is one of my favorite actors, I thought I'd give it a try. WOW! What a complete musical, with humor and even at the end a little sadness. See it for yourself and and make the decision. A Rodgers and Hammerstein musical? No, but JUST as good and well made for the current times. This was a fun piece. The cinematography was well done, the costumes were superb and all the acting was superb. I actually thought that the lead female was Alicia Keys. Patty Labelle looked wonderful and as I said Mr. Howard was quite a joy. JPC

hptweetyb I just loved this movie. The only thing I hate is the mini cameo of Miss Cicely Tyson and the limited role of the dynamic actor Mr Ben Vereen as Percivels dad. The musical numbers were toe tapping and kept the plot moving at a pace where even in the few places where the movie slowed down you didn't mind, a must see on DVD. Outkast is one of the few rap groups out of Georgia that i enjoy, and to put some of there hit music in a movie was just delightful. I have seen Andre other movies but this was the first time I saw Big Boi other than music videos and I was in for a treat. the other actors that rounded out the cast was cast in roles that was beleiveable I give this movie 2 thumbs up!

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).