All the worlds a stage and the players come together to do their part. Two dope boys in a Cadillac have come a long way from their humble Georgian roots only to reincarnate themselves as PJ and Rooster in 1930's Idlewild, Georgia. Rooster (Big Boi) plays the flashy lead of the two. P.J. (Andre 3000) meanwhile is an eccentric yet reserved mortician by day and piano player by night in the speakeasy Church. As I had hoped, the movie begins off with a raucous club scene with Big Boi on the mic. The dance floor looked like a choreographed breakdance meets Matrix scene with 1930's stylings and jiving. And of course what would a 1930's era movie be without gangsters & prohibition. Enter stage right Ving Rhames and Terrence Howard as Spats and Trumpy. Spats is the tough guy gangster ready to retire, while Trumpy is just waiting for his shot. Sunshine Ace meanwhile is the local Georgian boy who owns the club. Ace is clearly out of his element among absolutely everyone. After opportunity knocks for Trumpy, Rooster is put in charge of the club. Rooster must try to keep the club together financially, perform, keep from getting killed, keep his marriage together and pay off the debt Ace owed to the gangsters.
Andre, meanwhile, seems to be struggling, ready to leave, always looking for something new, somewhat disinterested and always more interested in music than performing. If you can't tell, the roles of PJ and Rooster aren't exactly huge bounds for Antwan or Andre. Andre is reinvigorated when Angel comes to town and needs help with her music.
Idlewild the CD is not the soundtrack for the movie. Many of the songs performed are from previous albums. Although the plot towards the end may not be as creative as I had hoped, every other piece of the movie came together quite well. My personal favorite of the movie was all the subtleties ala the singing dog and car in Morris Brown. The rooster easily steals the show whenever he's around, I mean who doesn't like helpful advice from a flask? Big Boi puts in a great performance. Miss Patti Labelle makes a guest appearance. Angel,Paula Patton, is just that (her next role will be in Deja Vu and I can't wait). I've loved OutKast since their early days and have been super excited to see this movie since Ms. K (Thank you!) said she could hook me up with tickets. I may be slightly biased, but I have to give this 4/5 stars.
2 comments:
While the movie was slightly predictable, the creative cinematography should sure win some award. I don't know that this movie was meant to be looked at in terms of plot, but created specifically for visual aesthetic and entertainment. Everything from the dance sequences to the simple artistic camera angles, to the interesting integrated animation was what this movie was about, not a plot.
Yeah, "Moving Cool (the Afterparty)" was on the Big Boi and Dre Present... OutKast album that had "The Whole World". Great song and perfect for Angel's debut.
You both hit on what I was really trying to put across. I wanted to see Outkast perform some of their great songs. By far my favorite part was all of the creative extras involved. The excellent cinematography, the cuckoo clock scene, the rooster, the paper. The small extras like the purple dog and singing car in "Morris Brown". I wasn't expecting an epic movie, I just wanted to see the creativity and originality I expect from Outkast.
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