Harry is idly wild about IDLEWILD...

Before heading to the screening of IDLEWILD today – Yoko and I stopped off at TARGET to pick up various household amenities. Stuff like ORBIT WHITE BUBBLEMINT gum, some sort of chip thing that Yoko wanted, various cleaning things and then we decided to wander to the non-essential side of TARGET and pick up some new music and a DVD. Yoko grabbed the cd of IDLEWILD from OUTKAST for the commute across Austin to the screening of IDLEWILD. Sensible enough.

I’ve been looking forward to IDLEWILD for quite some time now. During the hour commute – we listened to the songs and just couldn’t imagine them working with the images that we’ve all seen in the trailers. The music isn’t their strongest work – and there really doesn’t feel like a strong single in the entire piece. That’s not to say there isn’t some nice work on there. There is. Some of the songs have vague echoes to the work of Cab Calloway in a synth over-processed manner. But this was an album that lowered my expectations for the film, rather than increased them.

Then it was time to head into the theater. I pulled out my PSP and the demo PSP for the upcoming LucasArts – LEGO – ORIGINAL TRILOGY game and I have to say… it’s bliss. I always liked the Prequel LEGO game, which I played on the XBOX with my Nephew – but well… Original Trilogy just geeks me out – there’s something about controlling old man Obi-Wan – that just kicks ass.

Anyway – then the radio station made contestants do 20 minutes of jumping jacks. Or at least it felt that way. Then the film started.

What can I say?

I loved the film, despite itself.

This is a deeply flawed gem. An immaculate clusterfuck of a musical that dazzles with style, performances and vision, but confounds with uninspired songs featuring Big Boi and with some plot lines that are less than inspired.

The movie is filled with wonderful clichés of the musical and period film genres, and telegraphs like David Sarnoff, but often I love the results. The film, like many 30s musicals has a simple, yet sillily convoluted plot – that you’ll always know the direction of. What’s missing is a lot of classic songs. The dance numbers are awesome, yet not breathtaking. They’re awesome for the style, design and yet stunted by just not committing to the fantastical elements that are inherent to the musical platform – they’re stunted by the limitations of staged musical numbers – using the fancy modern cinematic whiz-bang for punctuations – yet not for phrases.

Yet… I loved the mess.

I fully acknowledge that almost everything having to do with the adult Rooster character, as played by Big Boi was fairly tedious. However, the story of Angel and Percival was a jewel. All music & story borne of their story – is magical. Andre Benjamin (Andre 3000) and Paula Patton are wonderful. As is Terrence Howard, Faizon Love, Malinda Williams, Cicely Tyson, Macy Gray, Ben Vereen, Ving Rhames and Oscar Dillon. And they actor that I say… alongside Andre and Paula Patton – to employ in as many films as possible would be… Bobb’e J Thompson. He plays the Young Rooster – and he does so with such an immense amount of charisma and coolness, that Big Boi’s version of the character feels like the same record, just retarded. Thompson is a young star, that eats up the screen. The audience and I – loved that little kid.

But the film belongs to Andre and Paula Patton. Their story works 100% for me. Andre’s Percival is a brow-beaten man that is following his father’s footsteps steadily towards his own crypt. Inside him is a passionate musician – but in this violent small town – it seems he’s spending more time tending to corpses at his father’s mortuary – than playing with the notes he writes for his own music. He moonlights at his buddy’s club – tickling the ivories as his buddy, Rooster, takes center stage. It’s only when a lady in need of some support comes along, that his pilot light is lit – and he begins to imagine a bigger life for himself. To take his own steps and to be his own man.

Paula’s Angel is a mysterious singer of the Juke Joint variety. Not yet big time, but headed in that general direction. She finds a partner in song and stage with Percival – and their charisma together is fantastic.

Now – don’t get me wrong. Big Boi’s Rooster isn’t a waste, it’s just not the story I’d rather have in the center stage of this film. I get it. And there’s some fantastic sequences with him. He’s just not as strong a performer as those he’s surrounded by in the film, and it’s frustrating, because I’m constantly wanting him to be better at every turn. He’s just not Cagney and he’s in the Cagney role.

In a lot of ways – that’s this movie. It wants to be James Cagney. Not just the Gangster, but the Song and Dance man. And – there’s a genius here – that Cagney would have been amazing in. Imagine the Cagney musical – gangster flick that never happened. Where he owned a juke joint with Busby Berkeley musical numbers and Michael Curtiz tough guys.

The biggest flaw in the film is the uneven musical numbers. There’s some that work, and two that just don’t work in that SHINY PENNY “Somewhere in Time” kinda way. They’re just not in the right era.

That said – this wondrous experiment is nearly great, but flawed in a way that will ruin the film for most.

This isn’t a solid film. It’s a solid attempt. The talent on display is absolutely worth checking out, but it’ll aggravate you like George Lucas. I love what’s there, but acknowledge it could have been so much more. I just wish that Bryan Barber had watched shorts like BLACK AND TAN (1929) or SYMPHONY IN BLACK (1934). There’s more pure style and genius in those two shorts – and much to be learned from the actual all black films that dealt with Jazz in the late 20s and early 30s than is evident in this film – which is a great coulda shoulda been.