8 MILE
Reviewed by Sam Hatch
If you had turned to me at the end of LA Confidential and told me that director Curtis Hanson's next film would be a hip-hop vanity piece for the rapper Eminem, I probably would have slapped you. In concept, the idea has no damn right to work, but somehow it does work like gangbusters. Eminem, aka Marshall Mathers, essays a slightly fictionalized representation of his own upbringing in the dirty side of Detroit. (8 Mile street divides the affluent posher areas from the poor and downtrodden ghetto denizens.) Eminem's Jimmy ‘B-Rabbit' Smith Jr. is a talented wordsmith desperately trying to make something of his life, in spite of the fact that nobody in his family expects or wants him to. La Confidential holdover Kim Basinger continues her examination of 'damaged goods' characters as Jimmy's white trash mother Stephanie, whose trailer is often the temporary home for a plethora of drifters and male ne'er do wells. Mathers' acting range is mainly comprised of looking intense and sharply focused, but he brings a few other intangible elements to the table. One yearns to see him really break out and take some big emotional risks in future roles.
Jimmy finds solace not in his soul-crushing work in a fender pressing factory, but in his nighttime superhero identity as a master battle-rapper. While not crushing the verses of sucka MCs, he's cruising the town with his band of lovable losers - including the delightful, slightly disabled Cheddar Bob as portrayed by Evan Jones. Mekhi Phifer plays the only father figure Jimmy has, and together they hone their skills when they're not burning down vagrant buildings and avoiding skirmishes with local rap adversaries. Brittany Murphy pseudo-heroin-addled look is perfect for the opportunistic waif Alex, and the boyish looking Eugene Byrd is charismatic enough to pull off a realistic portrayal of a friendly turncoat. The final rap battles, set in the cave-like Detroit venue The Shelter, are filled with white-hot energy, each successful bout winding the viewer up more and more until one forgets they're sitting in a movie theater. Where the film really succeeds however, is in its ability to keep its dreamer characters down to earth. It wisely avoids a plot where Jimmy does one great rap and immediately achieves a life of fame and wealth. This is a film that celebrates small victories, a feat which is in itself a small victory.