Starring Andre 3000, Big Boi, Paula Patton, and Terrence Howard
Directed by Bryan Barber
Music and Lyrics by various
Cotton Club wasn't the last recent musical to depict the African American experience in the 1930's. Members of the hip hop duo Outkast wrote the music and starred in the lead roles of this tale of two best friends who have close encounters with gangsters and shady dames while running a nightclub in a southern town in 1935. The difference here is, this one goes the Moulin Rouge route of using music that reflects more 2006 than 1936 - in this case, hip-hop, R&B, and soul - along with a music video director known for his flashy editing techniques. How does it hold up today? Let's take a trip through time to Idlewild, Georgia, as best friends Rooster (Big Boi) and Percival (Andre 3000) grow up together and find out...
The Story: Rooster and Percival are best friends literally all their lives, ever since they started out hanging around at the funeral parlor Percy's dad (Ben Vereen) owns. Rooster eventually marries Zora (Malinda Williams) and having five children with her, while Percy continues to work at the funeral home. Their lives intersect again when Rooster becomes a singer and Percy a piano player at The Church Club. Percy's content to play behind Rooster, until he's late on a night when local gangsters Spats (Ving Rhames) and Trumpy (Howard) are in residence. Also arriving that night is Angel Davenport (Patton), a singer who claims to be a star from St. Louis who has a contract with the club.
After Trumpy kills Spats and Church manager Ace (Faizon Love) in a shoot-out, Rooster becomes the new manager of the Church. Turns out Rooster inherited Ace's debts and has to sell the booze from Trumpy's suppliers at the Church whether he likes it or not. He's so desperate, he eventual gets Angel onstage. She's nervous at first, until Percival suggests they sing a song he wrote for her. It turns them into a sensation. Even after Percy finds out who she really is, he still considers going to Chicago with her to cut a record.
Rooster, however, is still having trouble with Trumpy. He hooks up with another bootlegger, GW (William Nunn), to see his hooch from Percy's hearse, even as his wife takes their children to her mother's house. It all comes down to an explosive confrontation at the Church that reminds Rooster of what's really important to him...and Percival of what he has to lose.
The Song and Dance: Evocative and violent look at two friends whose lives intersect in a web of music, romance, and gangland violence. It's the supporting cast that really shines here, with Howard appropriately menacing as Trumpy, Vereen stoic in his few appearances as Percival Senior, and Patton simply glowing as the beauty with the angelic voice who isn't what she claims to be. I love the gorgeous, period-accurate costumes and the wild editing that brings vitality and vigor to the amazing dance routines and gives the film the right sepia-and-dust look of a faded movie print from this time.
Favorite Number: We open with Macy Gray as the Church's lead singer Taffy shimmying and shaking to "The Greatest Show On Earth," as a wild assortment of tap dancing, jitterbugging, and chorus dances go on around her. Rooster sings about his snappy "Bowtie" with the chorus when he does finally arrive to appease the gangsters. Joi Gilliam, who dubbed Patton, joins Andre 3000 for the montage "Movin' Cool (The After Party)" as Angel and Percy go from desperately thrown-on-stage replacements to the stand-out stars of the Church.
"Church" is the big chorus number with Rooster that becomes a bloodbath when it's invaded by Trumpy, his henchmen, and their guns. "She Lives In My Lap" is the touching and rather creepy song Percy performs when he has to prepare Angel for her casket. The film ends on a high note showing how Percy becomes a star with two big choral routines, "When I Look In Your Eyes" and "PJ & Rooster" over the credits.
What I Don't Like: The plot pretty much cobbles together the best parts of everything from The Cotton Club to The Public Enemy and tosses them in a blender. Like The Cotton Club, the whole gangster plot is confusing, annoying, violent, overlong, and ultimately besides the point. The only real reason to see this is the dancing. The two lead performances can sometimes be a bit stiff as well, and the dynamic editing often takes us into the audience or away from what we really want to see, those dynamic dance routines.
And did I mention the violence? While not at the level of The Cotton Club, there is blood, shootings, several sex scenes (including one that's a musical number), and at least one woman is seen full-on topless briefly. It's absolutely not for children or those who can't handle the violence level.
The Big Finale: The wild numbers alone makes this worth checking out at least once for fans of gangster movies, elaborate Moulin Rouge-style musicals, or Outkast and other rap and hip-hop stars of the 2000's.
Home Media: Easy to find on all major formats; currently streaming on Amazon Prime and HBO Max.
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