Idol Eyes: the Final Four

Batman Forever. Free Willy. The Graduate. Caddyshack. The movies that changed our lives.

I'm so ready for this season to be over. It hasn't been the worst bunch of singers ever, but it's hard to remember many of the performances. But we're at the point in the show when they have to do something special to advance. Unless, you know, they all keep serving up the mediocre stuff. Hopefully Jamie Foxx can repeat his inspiring mentor work from last season, but the summer-camp t-shirt gimmick doesn't fill me with excitement.

Lee DeWyze
You ain't never gonna win nothing singing Seal. You ain't never gonna win nothing singing songs from the Batman soundtracks. And you ain't never gonna win nothing singing out of tune. That was not good. It ended well, but mostly I was just glad that it ended. Oh dear, Lee, it's a bad time to lay your first real dud.

Michael Lynche
The Michael Jackson songbook is a lot more impressive than Seal, but we just can't leave the ocean mammals or the cheesy 90s movies behind. Free Willy? That said, I love this song (big shocker) but not the performance. It wasn't bad. He sang well. But it was very . . . yawny.

Lee & Crystal
"Falling Slowly" is pretty much the perfect song for these two. I don't know how much this duet business will count in people's minds and phoning habits, but if it carries any weight that's real good news for the both of them. That was cool.

Casey James
The I less-than-three Casey jokes pretty much write themselves at this point as he sings the signature song from The Graduate, so let's just sail right past all of them. Strictly musically speaking, he pretty much kicked the lemonhead out of that Simon & Garfunkel tune, and I genuinely loved it. But it wasn't the biggest vocal challenge in the world, which is kind of a big deal at this juncture. Not a big song. Not a big guitar. But it was a great song.

Crystal Bowersox
Caddyshack? Tell me Crystal isn't pinning her American Idol hopes on Kenny Loggins. Please. Tell me that, people. Tell me she isn't taking on the king of the soundtracks. . . . I'm waiting. Well, the song has started. "I'm Alright" is playing, and it's coming from the mild rasp of Crystal's larynx, so I have to assume there are no announcements coming from you. Oh, hey, she sounded good. Great, actually. But that was Caddyshack. Cinderella story, out of nowhere? Hmm . . .

Casey & Mike
Casey singing Bryan Adams is right down his alley. Michael's in a completely different alley, so it was pretty darn surprising to see the intersection of their disparate alleys work so well. It was pretty cool. Not mind-blowing, but cool.

I have no idea who's going home, so I didn't even bother doing odds for them. Gun to my head, I'd say Mike, but all of them deserve to advance yet none of them have done so well as to shock me by their dismissals.