Metacritic Movie Ratings
Idlewild Reviews

A sample of reviews from critics across the country.

• 91

  out of 100

  Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman

  Idlewild is a romp, a ticket to rowdy good times.

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• 70

  out of 100

  Variety

  Achieves magic--something sorely missing from so many movies these days--and does so via a philosophy of respect, but not reverence, for what's come before it; it never recycles, it just reimagines.

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• 63

  out of 100

  USA TodayClaudia Puig

  The music by Outkast is great, and the rowdy, randy en masse dance sequences are riveting. The story, however, is rather thin and lacks focus.

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• 50

  out of 100

  Los Angeles Times

  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.

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• 50

  out of 100

  The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt

  An entertaining mess. It blends together musical styles and dances, historical periods with howling anachronisms, coy, almost childish gimmicks with R-rated sex and violence.

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• 40

  out of 100

  The New York TimesManohla Dargis

  The joint doesn't jump in the musical Idlewild; it just twitches and stumbles. As much a missed opportunity as a terrible tease.

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• 30

  out of 100

  Wall Street Journal

  Shakespeare has been quoted many, many times over the past 400 or so years, but never to such empty purpose as in the inchoate, self-indulgent musical drama Idlewild, a star vehicle for the wildly popular hip-hop duo OutKast.

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See all Idlewild movie reviews at Metacritic.com