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The music, the moment, the one shot - okay, enough; you've probably already
heard the song.
8 Mile is a tough Detroit neighborhood on the wrong side of the tracks where Jimmy "Bunny Rabbit" Smith (Eminem) is a working-class kid living in a trailer with his mom (Kim Basinger) and his younger sister, Lily (Chloe Greenfield). By day, he's trying to get by at the metal-pressing plant, and in the evenings, he's hanging with his boys, dreaming of getting a record deal and using rap music as his ticket out. Rabbit's main man, David "Future" Porter (Mekhi Phifer), hosts weekly rap battles, but Rabbit doesn't have the courage to step up to the mike.
Alex (Brittany Murphy) comes into the picture and becomes a distraction
- she and Wink (Eugene Byrd) try to get Rabbit to work some deals to get
heard by a man from the music industry. Rabbit's tempted, but finally realizes
this is one shot he has to take alone - to face the battle-champ, Papa
Doc (Anthony Mackie), and show everybody he's got the stuff.
No, we're not going to try rapping again (white girls can't rap - at least
not Movie Chick white girls), or use phrases like "this is dope",
"da bomb", or "this is the 8-1-7 review of the 3-1-3".
We'll just hit you with the low-down and chill with that, peace out.
Eminem leaves behind the bad-boy persona he has perfected in real life to become the "rapper with a heart of gold". He has a magnetic presence on screen and his eyes are just amazing (the rest of him isn't bad, either). Yes, there is a lot of hype surrounding this movie and Eminem's performance, to his credit, he's very good in this and does show signs that he may have some real acting talent. But before they hand over the golden statue, let's see if he can act when he isn't playing himself (not that playing yourself is a guaranteed good performance - just look at Glitter or Gymkata).
This could be a better movie - we'd keep the mother-son sex talk, the sweet
moments between Rabbit and his little sister, and all the antics with the
car, but lose the factory scenes (too much screen-time with no pay-off),
Brittany Murphy (it's a nothing role except to give Eminem something to
play with), and a lot of the trailer-trash mom moments (we get that Kim
Basinger's character will never get Mom of the year award).
The movie-trailer may look totally dark, but the film is funny, especially
when Rabbit and his homies are hanging out (every posse should have an
idiot like Cheddar Bob for comic relief). The raps are clever and very
entertaining (including a special version of "Sweet Home Alabama").
And the finale at the battle simply rocks the house.
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