55
Metascore
31 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 91Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanIdlewild is a romp, a ticket to rowdy good times.
- 70Village VoiceMichael AtkinsonVillage VoiceMichael AtkinsonIdlewild has a sober, loving respect for history and the old South, and thereby grants itself a measure of distinction.
- 63ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames BerardinelliDespite the best efforts of Barber the director, he never quite overcomes the shortcomings of Barber the writer.
- 50Rolling StonePeter TraversRolling StonePeter TraversThis oddball mix of "The Cotton Club" and "Six Feet Under" is a big, beautiful mess. But it offers the not-uninstructive spectacle of talented people stumbling over large and unwieldy ambitions.
- 50The Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttThe Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttAn entertaining mess. It blends together musical styles and dances, historical periods with howling anachronisms, coy, almost childish gimmicks with R-rated sex and violence.
- Patton and Benjamin can both hold the screen and are great in their musical sequences, but sorry, they aren't actors -- Terrence Howard, as the villain Trumpy, blows them into dust when he's on camera -- and their limited expressiveness detracts from the film's hallucinatory edge. The plot fails them too, as it takes turns we've seen in a dozen melodramas.
- 50L.A. WeeklyErnest HardyL.A. WeeklyErnest HardyThe film only rarely harnesses the power of the anachronistic, funk-driven, beat-heavy rap music that swells its soundtrack. Even the intricately choreographed crowd dance scenes, filled with frenzied movement, are more often stillborn than stimulating.
- 50The A.V. ClubNathan RabinThe A.V. ClubNathan RabinIdlewild boasts too much personality around the edges--especially in Terrence Howard and Macy Gray's scene-stealing turns--and not enough at its center. It's a vehicle for OutKast's music and personality in which the music and lead roles feel like afterthoughts.
- 30Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovAustin ChronicleMarc SavlovThere are moments in Idlewild that resonate with the painful "if only" of missed opportunity, and more than a few that just make you scratch your head. It's like some wildly overlong music video, minus the sexy thump 'n' grind. It's all blow, no pop.