Who's in It: André Benjamin, Antwan A. Patton, Paula Patton, Terrence Howard, Macy Gray, Ving Rhames
The Basics:
Dear Outkast,
Please return that VHS copy of Under the Cherry Moon to the store. It is 15 years overdue and y'all owe some serious late fees.
Sincerely,
Blockbuster
What's the Deal? OK, first of all, you should see this because it pretty much defines "big crazy mess" for a new generation. It's a lot of things, and some of them are even good things. But the ones that aren't good make you wish you had a fast-forward remote in your hand.
What's Great: Faizon Love being repulsive; Macy Gray proving that she's capable of even more rad, lunatic behavior than she demonstrated in her too-brief scenes as a welfare mom in Training Day; the too-few musical numbers; the show-offy cinematography and funky camera tricks like visual scratching as if the screen were a turntable; the aggressively un-catchy music; the talking flask of booze. That's right, I said there's a talking flask.
What's Not Great: Where's all the singing, rapping and dancing? You're OutKast, aren't you? What gives? We want more singing, rapping and dancing! And why is Patti LaBelle in this movie for less than 10 seconds? And why isn't she allowed to sing? And what's with the whiplashing tone from sad to happy to comedy to drama to violent to inspirational to music-video surreality? If you want to do that kind of thing, you have to factor Baz Luhrmann into your budget.