BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Mjeteconer Just perfect...

Hattie I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

makedahsari The community who loves OUTCAST, John Singleton going to need you to come back. do another sequel LOVED LOVED LOVED this movie, dancing, action, excitement, wardrobe, story line all great. LETS BRING THIS BACK with Black Panther, and another COMING TO AMERICA!!!

mike dewey So you wanna see a gangster/comedy/romance/musical, etc. film feast, well, you have come to the right place! A thoroughly engaging and entertaining piece of film fare loosely set in a rural area in the early 1930's. This, in my humble opinion, is a watershed film for African-American film-makers. The ever so deftly crafted admixture of snappy, well articulated dialog, rousing stage numbers, romantic interludes, gangster high-jinks, animated cartoon comedic characters and whatever else I have left out is a resounding testament to Bryan Barber's cinematic skills.Mr. Barber uses an almost exclusively Black cast in a Black cultural setting, yet this story line, with its several accompanying sub-plots, is most decidedly universal in nature. This in itself is not unique, but his combined usage of the camera angles/settings and their movements, the insertion of animated characters (e.g.,cuckoo-clock dancing/rapping figures), the moving and anachronistic (funk in the 1930's) rap/funk/jazzy/acoustic score and the choreography, treads new and entertaining ground. To wit, note the amusing animated rooster on Mr. Rooster's flask, who sounds and jokes like a resurrected Robin Harris. Changing gears, note the ever so melodic and soft acoustic guitar solo accompaniment during the romantic scene between the principals (Andre Benjamin & Paula Patton). If you like the shoot-em-up gangster stuff, it's in here too, and carried off well by the likes of Terrence Howard and company.The aforementioned principals were true to form in their respective roles, as was Antwan Patton(Rooster), Mr. Howard, Ving Rhames, Ben Vereen, just to name a few. There was a cohesion, a sense of unity, as they performed their individual roles. It's as if the collective whole became greater than the sum of their individual parts as a result of their artistic efforts.Finally, to find out what I left out of this brief analysis, you go see it for yourself and enjoy!

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...

harrin30 Does anyone realize that there is a place in Michiga called "Idlewild"? It can still be found just off of highway 10 which runs from east to west connecting Bay City to Ludington. For many years it was considered a ghost town, rumor has it that the mayor of Detroit is trying to revive it as resort community again. In it's day it was a famous resort for middle and upper class blacks before World War 2? Many well known blues and jazz musicians were hired to perform there for the entertainment of the vacationers. I find it disappointing that the movie is set in the South when it has been given "Idlewild" as a title. It's a shame that the name of a true historical place with all that history attached to it is being inaccurately portrayed.