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8 Mile
There was a time when Eminem, the first white rapper since Vanilla Ice, was the hottest thing on the planet so it was no surprise when Hollywood came to call, but 2002's 8 Mile is definitely a case of parts being better than the whole.
The rapper plays Jimmy "Rabbit" Smith, an employee at a car factory in urban Detroit who has big dreams of being in the rap game, participating in "battles" whenever he can, but finds as much distraction from his friends as he does from his foes in pursuit of his dream. On the homefront, Rabbit has just moved back home with his mom (Kim Basinger) who is living in a trailer park with a guy that Rabbit went to high school with (Michael Shannon).
The late Curtis Hanson, who won an Oscar for writing 1997's LA Confidential is in the director's chair for this one, providing some impressive directorial pyrotechnics that make this film seem a lot more important than it really is. Hanson brings a little style to Scott Silver's screenplay, which actually plays like just about any show business biopic that's been made in the past 50 years. The opening scene where we are told that Rabbit is the hottest rapper in town and then steps on stage and chokes just smacks of cliche. I understand they wanted to save something for the rest of the movie, but it would have been a more effective hook to have win the first battle and then lose.
Silver's screenplay concentrates a little too much on Rabbit's antagonism with these other rappers, personal antagonisms that reach dangerous proportions. Not to mention friends with questionable loyalties around our boy, making it hard for him to know who to trust. The friends who Rabbit trust are true friends and their scenes together do ring true...the scene where they are cruising downtown zapping landmarks with a paint gun was a lot of fun, but if the truth be told, I just would have liked a movie starring the hottest rapper on the planet to have a little more rapping in it. My favorite scene in the movie was actually when Rabbit and his BFF Future (Mekhi Pfifer) are at the trailer park and improvise a rap to "Sweet Home Alabama". And as awesome as Rabbit's final battle was, the finale was a cop-out.
Hanson's direction is better than the story and the performances are a matter of taste. I can see why this movie did nothing for Eminem's career. Basinger was solid as his mom and I also loved Evan Jones as Cheddar, a member of Rabbit's posse who shoots himself at one point. "Lose Yourself", the song performed by the star over the closing credits, won the Oscar for Best Song of 2002 and is one of the best things about the movie, along with Hanson's direction and a razor sharp film editing team.
There was a time when Eminem, the first white rapper since Vanilla Ice, was the hottest thing on the planet so it was no surprise when Hollywood came to call, but 2002's 8 Mile is definitely a case of parts being better than the whole.
The rapper plays Jimmy "Rabbit" Smith, an employee at a car factory in urban Detroit who has big dreams of being in the rap game, participating in "battles" whenever he can, but finds as much distraction from his friends as he does from his foes in pursuit of his dream. On the homefront, Rabbit has just moved back home with his mom (Kim Basinger) who is living in a trailer park with a guy that Rabbit went to high school with (Michael Shannon).
The late Curtis Hanson, who won an Oscar for writing 1997's LA Confidential is in the director's chair for this one, providing some impressive directorial pyrotechnics that make this film seem a lot more important than it really is. Hanson brings a little style to Scott Silver's screenplay, which actually plays like just about any show business biopic that's been made in the past 50 years. The opening scene where we are told that Rabbit is the hottest rapper in town and then steps on stage and chokes just smacks of cliche. I understand they wanted to save something for the rest of the movie, but it would have been a more effective hook to have win the first battle and then lose.
Silver's screenplay concentrates a little too much on Rabbit's antagonism with these other rappers, personal antagonisms that reach dangerous proportions. Not to mention friends with questionable loyalties around our boy, making it hard for him to know who to trust. The friends who Rabbit trust are true friends and their scenes together do ring true...the scene where they are cruising downtown zapping landmarks with a paint gun was a lot of fun, but if the truth be told, I just would have liked a movie starring the hottest rapper on the planet to have a little more rapping in it. My favorite scene in the movie was actually when Rabbit and his BFF Future (Mekhi Pfifer) are at the trailer park and improvise a rap to "Sweet Home Alabama". And as awesome as Rabbit's final battle was, the finale was a cop-out.
Hanson's direction is better than the story and the performances are a matter of taste. I can see why this movie did nothing for Eminem's career. Basinger was solid as his mom and I also loved Evan Jones as Cheddar, a member of Rabbit's posse who shoots himself at one point. "Lose Yourself", the song performed by the star over the closing credits, won the Oscar for Best Song of 2002 and is one of the best things about the movie, along with Hanson's direction and a razor sharp film editing team.