Movie Review The Bobby DeBarge Story

The Bobby DeBarge Story (2019) 

Directed by Russ Parr 

Written by Norman Vance Jr

Starring Roshon Fegan, Big Boi, Romeo Ballantine 

Release Date June 29th, 2019 

Criticizing TV One's The Bobby DeBarge Story is like having to discipline a puppy that has urinated on the floor, you don't want to be mean, but you have to let the puppy know not to do that again. As with a puppy, I will attempt to be gentle, but this is a huge puddle on the floor. This earnest, high camp, biopic mixes emotional honesty with some of the cringiest costumes and performances of 2019.

Multi-hyphenate entertainer, Roshon Fegan, plays the role of Bobby DeBarge, among the oldest of the DeBarge siblings, who would each find a measure of success on the Motown label in the late 70s and early 80s. It was Bobby and his brother Tommy (Blue Kimble) who would break out of the incredibly talented DeBarge family first.

Read the complete review of The Bobby DeBarge Story on Beat.Media here. 

Movie Review: Who's Your Caddy?

Who's Your Caddy (2007)

Directed by Don Michael Paul

Written by Robert Henny 

Starring Big Boi, Tamala Jones, Jeffrey Jones, Faizon Love

Release Date July 27th, 2007

Published July 29th, 2007

There have been too many Caddyshack ripoffs to count since that comedy classic arrived more than 20 years ago. Few however, have been so blatantly thieving as the comedy Who's Your Caddy. Though it is given a racial twist, Who's Your Caddy lifts the raucous, us vs them scenario of Caddyshack and does little to distinguish itself from the dozens of other imitators.

C-Note (Big Boi) is the impresario of one of the largest empires in all of hip hop. Puff Daddy asks this guy for a loan. C-Note has it all but what he wants more than anything else is admission to a prestigious golf club that he has always dreamed of playing at. Unfortunately, the club's stuffy owner Mr. Cummings (Jeffrey Jones) and his stable of cronies refuse to let him in.

If you think C-Note would accept such rejection you are mistaken. Buying property that includes a small portion of the golf course, C-Note won't give up his new digs, and give back the courses 18th hole unless they let him become a member. In the meantime, the club dispatches their new chief legal counsel, Shannon (Tamala Jones) to try and negotiate things. No surprise, C-Note falls for the lawyerette.

If you guessed that everything comes down to a contest on the course, well duh! Of course it does and I bet you can guess how that turns out as well. Sometimes it's not what a movie is about, it's how it is about it. Who's Your Caddy offers little of anything new in what it's about but does have some charm in how it goes about it.

Who's Your Caddy is amateur in direction but what it lacks in cinematic chops, it attempts to make up with energy and good humor.  The cast is game, the humor is inoffensive and the hip hop soundtrack, including new music from star Big Boi, is not bad. Indeed Who's Your Caddy is not a bad movie overall. It's just not a very good movie.

Rapper turned actor Big Boi has three major credits under his belt, ATL, Idlewild and now Who's Your Caddy, and while he lacks the polish of his fellow portly rap star turned actor, Ice Cube, or the raw energy and charisma of his Outkast partner Andre Benjamin, he does have a laid back comfort on screen that plays like charm. His work is effortless and at ease and he makes Who's Your Caddy float by in its just over 90 minute runtime.

Not a truly bad movie but far from a good one, Who's Your Caddy is another forgettable Caddyshack rerun that fails to provide any motivation for audiences to get excited about it. The cast is amiable and good natured and they seem to be having a lot of fun on screen but that fun doesn't always pass on to the audience.

There is potential in Big Boi as an actor but he needs to leave behind forgettable, juvenile junk like Who's Your Caddy.

Movie Review Idlewild

Idlewild (2006) 

Directed by Bryan Barber

Written by Bryan Barber

Starring Andre Benjamin, Big Boi, Terrence Howard, Faizon Love, Paula Patton, Ving Rhames

Release Date August 25th, 2006 

Published August 26th, 2006 

I've seen bad movies and I've seen disappointing movies but I have never had a movie leave me with the kind of disappointment and frustration as Idlewild. After a sensational trailer that made the film look like an epic musical from hip hop's reigning duo, Idlewild turns out to be a wildly eclectic misfire of both filmic and musical proportions.

Idlewild tells two stories at once. Two pals, Rooster (Big Boi) and Percival (Andre 3000) are living their lives in Idlewild Georgia circa 1935, give or take a year. Rooster is a nightclub performer and part time thug who helps a mobster (Ving Rhames) move booze. Percival is Rooster's piano player but most of his time is spent working as an undertaker in his father's (Ben Vereen) mortuary.

Both Rooster and Percival have dreams well beyond the juke joints and southern climes of Idlewild. Rooster is a family man who longs for the days when there won't be a bullet with his name on it. Percival is a talented musician; who writes terrific songs that no one has ever heard. He dreams of one day leaving Idlewild for the big city's up north to perform his songs.

The two friends' lives are changed in a matter of days when a rival gangster named Trumpy (Terrence Howard) kills his way to the top of the liquor trade by killing Rooster's boss Ace (Faizon Love). This leaves the club in Rooster's hands and the ruthless mobster at his back.

Percival meanwhile is hit with a bolt of lightning in the form of Angel (Paula Patton); the feature act that Ace hired before he met his untimely end. Angel takes an immediate liking to the piano player and the two make beautiful music together on stage and off. Angel encourages Percival to leave Idlewild with her for a shot at stardom in Chicago, this despite a secret that threatens to cost both of them their lives.

These two plots compete for attention in a picture crowded with colorful characters whom director Brian Barber cannot find time for. Consider for a moment the supporting cast that includes Ving Rhames, Ben Vereen, Terrence Howard and makes little room for Patti LaBelle -in a blink and you miss it cameo-, Macy Gray, Paula Jai Parker (Hustle and Flow), and Bill Nunn. Characters are introduced very briefly, often unnamed because there is simply no time.

Barber simply has too many balls in the air, from his sprawling cast, to his lavish musical numbers to the love story and the gangster story and finally trying to coalesce all of this into a coherent conclusion. That he does manage to reign it all in at the end to give the film at least a sensible finale is quite a feat.

The story experience of Idlewild runs a distant second to the music of Idlewild which is seemingly the purpose of it all. Idlewild plays like an overlong concept music video collection. The competing storylines, gangsters and booze vs art and love story, play not unlike the last Outkast project, the dueling albums Speakerboxx/The Love Below.

Like that 2 disc collection, Andre 3000 and Big Boi in Idlewild are essentially working on different projects in which each makes a cameo in the other's story. The only differences are that this is a movie, not just a CD and it all comes together under one title instead of two.

Of course, the star of Idlewild is the music and again drawing parallels with Speakerboxx/The Love Below, Andre 3000's music is more daring, unique and entertaining than Big Boi's, only lacking Big Boi's showmanship which he uses to sell his best contribution to Idlewild, the song "Bowtie" a rousing introduction of his slickster character Rooster.

Andre 3000's musical contributions to Idlewild are a wildly eclectic mixture of hip hop and old school rhythm and blues piano arrangements. His musical repertoire, as he demonstrated on The Love Below and previous Outkast records, is seemingly limitless and he shows that once again in Idlewild. And Andre is as unique with his lyrics as with his music in Idlewild. Check the song "Chronomentrophobia" and don't bother looking up that title in the dictionary.

Idlewild as a movie is a jumbled, messy enterprise. As a collection of music videos, this a good, not great concept soundtrack. Andre 3000's work on Idlewild, much like on Speakerboxx/The Love Below, is superior to his partner Big Boi's but neither really reaches the heights of their previous works.

For Outkast fans, Idlewild is an easy recommendation, the music is by no means sub-par, just not as good as what came before. For non-fans Idlewild is an okay introduction to the work of Outkast, but you are better off grabbing a copy of Stankonia or Speakerboxx/The Love Below to get a real idea of the genius of Outkast.

Movie Review: ATL

ATL (2006) 

Directed by Chris Robinson 

Written by Tina Gordon Chism

Starring Tip T.I Harris, Lauren London, Big Boi

Release Date March 31st, 2006 

Published April 2nd, 2006

Rapper Tip "T.I" Harris's rise to the top of the charts has been a long arduous journey. Harris's career is reminiscent of the career charted in the hip hop drama Hustle and Flow, sans the pimping. After several years of basement recordings and getting by on the skin of his teeth, Harris finally got his tape in the hands of people in the business and what they heard was a true diamond in the rough.

On the heels of his film debut ATL, released in theaters back in January '06, T.I's album King went straight to the top of the charts. The same could not be said for the films box office run but now that the film is hitting video stores Harris's newfound status as a true hip hop star may help the film reach a wider and more receptive audience.

In ATL T.I stars as Rashad a seventeen year old forced to raise his fourteen year old brother Ant (Evan Roth) after their parents are killed. Sure, their uncle George (Mykelti Williamson) is around but with his casual drinking and pot smoking he is not ideally suited to be either guardian or mentor. Rashad is still in school but he spends most of his time working and saving money to get Ant out of the ghetto.

Rashad's only real comfort comes on the weekends when he gathers with his pals Esquire (Jackie Long), Brooklyn (Albert Daniels) and Teddy (Jason Weaver) at the local roller rink called Cascades. There, the four friends perform choreographed skating routines to the delight of an amassed crowd. They aren't alone, the cascades is home to a number of talented teams all aiming toward a season ending skating competition.

It is at cascades that Rashad meets New (Lauren London), a beautiful girl with a secret. Rashad and New New take an instant liking to one another but when her secret life is revealed it threatens to destroy the burgeoning romance.

Combine a sprinkle of the 2005 comedy Roll Bounce with a dash of inner city coming of age drama and you get ATL. Director Chris Robinson, working from a story by Antwone Fisher, someone who knows a little something about the coming age drama having won praise for writing his own life story on film, and a script by Tina Gordon Chism, manages a few original moments here and there but for the most part delivers the rote story from script to screen as if merely transcribing words to images.

What little innovation Robinson brings to ATL comes in the film's look which is gritty with just a hint of music video flourish. The cinematography by music video vet Karsten Gopinath is experimental and lively and at the very least, more memorable than the plot of ATL.

Also strong is the film's soundtrack where star T.I Harris lays down some fierce radio friendly beats with his song "Ride With Me". Harris proves himself to be a very talented hip hop artist and not a bad skater either. However, when slowed down to reading and delivering the films forgettable dialogue Harris can barely rise over a mumbled few words. He does project a strong presence and manage some sexual chemistry with Lauren London but it is clear that Harris's true talents lie behind a microphone.

Not all that dramatic or comic, ATL relies on classic inner city cliches, drugs, guns and gangs to create its plot and that can't help but get dull and repetitive quickly. On the bright side, ATL gives its audience much visual and auditory pleasures. The actors and actresses are attractive and good natured and the music is some of the best hip hop of the year. It's no wonder why T.I's album King went straight to number one early in 2006.

ATL holds other minor pleasures, including a strong pair of performances from veteran character actors. Mykelti Williamson, best known as Forrest Gump's pal Bubba, delivers a painfully realistic portrayal of a man tasked with responsibilities beyond his capabilities. An arrested development, having spent his entire life slacking and working as a janitor, Williamson's Uncle George is not uncaring or unfeeling, just tired and disillusioned.

Keith David delivers a solid performance as a successful businessman who built his empire from nothing but has no interest in sharing his success with those on the wrong side of the tracks. As businessman John Garnett, whom Esquire turns to for help with a college recommendation, David is at first self effacing and helpful. However, when he finds his daughter interested in one of the so-called hoodlums from the roller rink, David shows Garnett's true self loathing nature in a pair of well acted scenes.

And finally there is a scene in ATL that is almost good enough to make me recommend the film. As young Ant is losing his virginity in the back of a friends car his struggles with intimacy range from comic to poignant and back in just mere moments. The scene is a rare moment of truth in an otherwise prepackaged genre picture.

ATL is far too typical to be truly compelling but it is professionally crafted with a likable if not all that remarkable cast. Not for audiences looking for anything really challenging, the draw of ATL is T.I for his big screen debut. This is something his fans will want to watch and keep in their collections next to copies of his number one album King and what I'm sure will be few more number one albums in the future.

Consider ATL a collectible for fans of a rising star in the world of hip hop.