Richard Propes TheIndependentCritic.com Sep 11, 2020 1.5/4.0

Who ever thought I'd refer to an OutKast project as boring?

Go to Full Review

Kaleem Aftab The List Nov 3, 2018 3/5

It's a tame, well-rehearsed story that hangs together to ensure Idlewild plays like one incongruous pop promo after another.

Go to Full Review

Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews Apr 23, 2018 C+

The only hope for saving the humorless Idlewild is the atmospheric speak-easy setting, the great dancing numbers and the chill soundtrack.

Go to Full Review

Joshua Starnes ComingSoon.net Mar 27, 2011 7/10

Benjamin and Patton have devised a basic Prohibition era gangster story as a background for their newest musical experiment melding modern hip-hop with the jazz and blues of the '30s, all put together with a great deal of visual cleverness and flair.

Go to Full Review

Fernando F. Croce CinePassion Aug 30, 2009

Its hodgepodge plot only heightens its stale smell

Go to Full Review

Brian Marder Hollywood.com Nov 20, 2008 2/5

Go to Full Review

Jonathan Kiefer Sacramento News & Review Aug 7, 2008 3/5

Go to Full Review

Joe Lozito Big Picture Big Sound Jul 14, 2007 1.5/4

Go to Full Review

Felix Vasquez Jr. Cinema Crazed Jul 11, 2007 2.5/4

Though not as good as I hoped it would be, it's still an above par musical effort in the end...

Go to Full Review

Mark Palermo The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia) Mar 15, 2007

1930s black America becomes just a stage for OutKast's vanity project.

Go to Full Review

Frank Lovece Film Journal International Mar 1, 2007

Neither fish nor fowl. Nor foul, either, though not great--and ultimately, more idle than wild.

Go to Full Review

Kam Williams BlackFilm.com Feb 8, 2007 2/4

In spite of several inspired moments where it exhibits some genuine promise, this desperate attempt to be all things to all people ends up sabotaging any potential to make a memorable contribution to the annals of cinema.

Go to Full Review

Michael A. Smith Nolan's Pop Culture Review Dec 13, 2006 3/4

The music, which sounds like a collaboration between Cab Calloway and Run DMC, keeps the story flowing.

Go to Full Review

Mark Pfeiffer NightsAndWeekends.com Dec 4, 2006 C-

Idlewild overflows with inventiveness and random weirdness that sort of make it a must-see even if it isn't a particularly good film.

Go to Full Review

Jeremy C. Fox Pajiba Nov 20, 2006

Outside of the musical numbers, Idlewild is nothing more than an old-fashioned crime melodrama, a generic jumble of Prohibition-era gangsters and aspiring musicians - any one storyline instantly recognizable from a dozen other films.

Go to Full Review

David Jenkins Time Out Oct 14, 2006

For a band whose music is suffused with such delicate irony, you'd expect at the very least for there to be a few laughs along the way? There are none. Nothing. Zero.

Go to Full Review

Robert Hanks Independent (UK) Oct 14, 2006 1/5

Go to Full Review

Olly Richards Empire Magazine Oct 6, 2006 3/5

Fans happy to luxuriate in its artistic indulgence, however, will be swept up in the weird, random, fantastic OutKastness of it all.

Go to Full Review

Matthew Leyland BBC.com Sep 29, 2006 3/5

You have to hand it to those OutKast fellas -- even when they make a mess, they do it with style.

Go to Full Review

James Sanford Kalamazoo Gazette Sep 22, 2006 3/4

an eccentric, audacious musical that, like "Moulin Rouge," blends backstage drama, tragic romance and flights of fantasy into a story that bravely jumps from genre to genre and from era to era.

Go to Full Review