American Idol: 4 to 3, Movie Night

Well the competition is getting hot. We're going down to the final three. I would be able to whip up a frenzy of excitement if only movie night hadn't been so lame. What a disappointment. What stupid song choices. And Jamie Foxx? A great performer, but as a judge, Puleese!

4. Casey James personified lameness in his solo performance of "Mrs. Robinson" from The Graduate. First off, this song choice, about an older woman who seduces a young man, was embarrassing given the jokes throughout this season about Kara wanting to seduce Casey. Second, this song is satirical and only makes sense in that mode. Casey sang it wistfully, as if longing for Mrs. Robinson, while strumming a tiny guitar. Stupid, and as Simon said, the performance lacked substance. However, I predict that Casey is not going home this week.

3. That role belongs to Michael Lynche who sang "Will You Be There?" from Free Willy in a cheesy and insincere way. I guess that goes without saying, but Michael has more raw vocal talent that Casey, so I rate his performance higher. But why that song? Michael Jackson owns that song; it's sentimental, but while M. Jackson can transcend that, M. Lynche cannot.

2. As he does on rare occasions Lee DeWyze disappointed me a little in his solo performance. "Kiss From a Rose" from Batman Forever. This is a smoothly romantic song as sung by Seal, but I never would have picked this for gruff rocker Lee. As Randy sometimes says, it was a little sleepy. But I guess you could say that Lee was original in his version. It doesn't matter though. Lee is already a great musician as amply demonstrated in in this recording session:


1. Crystal Bowersox won the day with her big, energetic performance of "I'm Alright" from Caddyshack, a truly lame song and therefore a questionable choice. But Crystal was hands down better than Kenny Loggins, the originator of the song.

As for the duets, Lee and Crystal's version of the achingly beautiful "Falling Slowly" from Once was stunning. Their voices blended well, but I do think Lee outshone Crystal. Mike and Casey also did a nice job with "Have You Ever really Loved a Woman?" from Don Juan DeMarco. As opposed to all of the other songs presented tonight, these last two were really good choices.