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'Idlewild' is a disjointed spectacle, but never boring

You want proof that movie musicals are difficult to pull off? Just take a gander at Idlewild, a hodgepodge of creative ideas grafted onto a number of music videos, all in search of a story.

Although it takes place in the Prohibition era, the film feels distinctly post-modern. Audiences will leave Idlewild wondering what exactly they have just seen, but are likely to agree that it was never dull.

Universal Pictures 'Idlewild' C+ The verdict: Lively, though often incoherent musical in the Prohibition-era South, that showcases the OutKast duo well. Director: Bryan Barber Starring: Andre 'Andre 3000' Benjamin, Antwan 'Big Boi' Patton, Faizon Love, Paula Jai Parker, Paula Patton Run time: 120 minutes Release date: August 25, 2006 Rating: R for violence, sexuality, nudity and language. See showtimes On the web Official movie site View the trailer    Trailers require Quicktime Rate 'Idlewild'   Go see it   Make it a matinee   Wait to rent   Don't bother Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

There is certainly talent on screen in this gangster and show business yarn, created by and for the two members of the pop music group OutKast, Andre "3000" Benjamin (Four Brothers) and Antwan "Big Boi" Patton (ATL). But writer-director Bryan Barber either hasn't a clue or has no interest in harnessing the movie's many elements into a workable narrative.

What exactly the movie is about and how to sell it has apparently been stumping Universal Pictures, which had it on a shelf collecting dust for more than a year. It is entirely possible that OutKast fans will not mind the film's tone shifts, anachronisms and bouts of incoherence, because its two stars are showcased so well.

Oddly, though, Benjamin and Patton are rarely seen together, since each is involved in a plot of sorts that runs parallel to the other. In a promising prologue, we see them grow up as childhood pals in Idlewild, Ga., then gravitate to a nightclub/speak-easy in town. Rooster (Patton) becomes the club's manager after the previous one is removed by gunfire. And Percival (Benjamin) plays piano there by night, after working by day in his family's mortuary.

Rooster is married with a handful of children and his wife is justifiably suspicious of his philandering ways. As if that weren't enough for him to worry about, he has a cold-blooded gangster called Trumpy (Terrence Howard of Hustle & Flow) leaning on him to buy his bootleg hootch and pay off old club debts. Meanwhile, Percival works on the songs which he hopes will be his ticket to success, when an alluring singer named Angel Davenport glides into the club and into his life.

Otherwise, musical sequences burst out of nowhere without the slightest warning or motivation. Barber — who created many of OutKast's music videos — has a roving, mobile camera and he never met an offbeat shooting angle he did not like. With jazzy and occasionally hip-hop choreography by three-time Tony Award winner Hinton Battle, Idlewild has some flashy production numbers at the club.

Part of the irony of the film's casting, however, is that the two most talented musical performers never sing a note. Ben Vereen shows up as Percival's fire-and-brimstone mortician father and Patti LaBelle has a brief scene as a Chicago entertainer whose identity gets stolen.

Barber tosses in some amusing uses of animation to shake matters up further. Doodles on Percival's sheet music keep coming to life, for instance, and a metal-stamped rooster on a hip flask of Rooster's often flaps his wings and mouth in a Looney Tunes manner. If nothing else, they are more examples of a string of disconnected diversions.

Idlewild is the kind of movie that manages to be both off-the-wall and predictable. When we see that Benjamin works at a funeral home, we know it is just a matter of time before he is serenading a corpse. And when Patton is given a Bible by a wrinkled old church lady (Cicely Tyson), you can bet that Bible will soon stop a bullet and save his life.