rohibition-era period piece Idlewild, set in the fictitious Georgia town, is part farce, part musical, part violent drama, but all wound together in an entertaining jumble. Think of it as a 1930s remix. André Benjamin and Antwan A. Patton - better known as André 3000 and Big Boi of OutKast - have emulated Prince, following the Purple One to the big screen.

It should be no surprise that Idlewild has a lot in common with Prince's Purple Rain. Both films follow that breakthrough moment for a musical act that has made it deeper into the mainstream than anyone's expectations. Yes, it's a rap movie, with rappers and rapping and gangstas and high octane violence. But a lot of ways, Idlewild is somewhat better than Prince's 1984 debut. The music, however, is no match for Prince's dynamic Purple Rain.

Most of the action takes place in a club that looks oddly familiar, reminiscent of other heightened movie-dream cabarets, like Chicago and Moulin Rouge. Benjamin portrays stage-fright stricken piano player Percival, who works for Rooster (Big Boi) at Church, a speakeasy-type nightclub in league with gangster Spats (Ving Rhames). Things get complicated with Rooster's two problems: His wife, Zora (Malinda Williams), who is enraged at his philandering, and the mob boss, Trumpy (Terrence Howard), who is putting the pressure on by increasing the price of contraband liquor.

The filmmakers focus on the beats as much as possible. Indeed most of the contrived plot makes little to no sense. With a fun rotation of characters portrayed by a quality cast: Ving Rhames and Faizon Love hold their own, while Ben Vereen, Cicely Tyson, Patti LaBelle and Macy Gray get little more than cameos. Idlewild keeps a be-bopping pace that lags only during a few sadly melodramatic moments