Movie Synopsis: The people of Detroit know 8 Mile as the city limit, a border, a boundary. It is also a psychological dividing line that separates Jimmy Smith Jr. (Eminem) from where and who he wants to be. 8 Mile is a provocative fictional examination of a critical week in Jimmy's life, starring multi-platinum recording artist Eminem in his first leading role in a feature film, along with Kim Basinger as Jimmy's mother, Mekhi Phifer, Brittany Murphy and Eugene Byrd.
Summary written by Universal Pictures
Now for The Zone's Eye View
By Claire Hoang
Director: Curtis Hanson
Starring: Eminem, Kim Basinger, Brittany Murphy, Mekhi Phifer
Let's get this straight…this is not Eminem's life story.
Anyone expecting a street kids rise from the trailers to the ™Grammy Awards is going to be disappointed.
It ain't.
What it is however is a very long two hours that could have been crammed into ten minutes.
Jimmy 'Rabbit' Smith is a rapper with talent. However he's just split with his girlfriend, has had to move back to the trailer park with his mum and is the only white face in the sea of black faces at the local 'battles'. The kids got a lot to prove…..can you hear that orchestra gearing up in the background? Think Rocky but with rapping.
The problem with this film is that as well as high expectations, it just seems to drone on about nothing. The story could have been told with a lot more action and interest in half the time.
Curtis Hanson is a well-respected director. He made L.A Confidential for god's sake! But the man is out of his depth here. Obviously it's going to be hard to make a movie about the urban streets of Detroit when you're a white middle class man, but when you try to treat the whole thing like a fairy tale, it doesn't help.
For one, the script is terrible. It seems to take ten minutes to make a point in one conversation, and even then every one word out of three is hard to understand. According to my friend if you know hip hop it's easy, but what if you don't? I realize that obviously they aren't going to be speaking the Queen's English or anything, but important conversations seem to happen with relevant plot points that needed translating.
It was lucky the plot was so generic or I would have lost it altogether.
The supporting characters are ripped straight out of the 'Hollywood's guide to people' pigeonhole. For example, comedy 'white' sidekick, who just doesn't get the street cred. Black man obsessed with raising the African-American man issue all the time. The best friend who knows what's best. The enemy with a secret just waiting to be exposed….it's hardly rocket science to work out what's going to happen. Kim Basinger's character is just pointless. So is the character of his daughter. If anything, they just seem to be token 'family members' to prove that there is a sensitive side to this 'Rabbit' guy. Character building by numbers or what?
However the most perplexing character is that of the token 'girlfriend'. We'll call her that, she's not. She's the 'romance' part of the film. But this is where the fairy tale gets mixed up…she's the reason he goes back to 'conquer his fears', but because she screws up?!?! Somebody explain this bit to me, because I found it confusing and conclusive proof that this 'Rabbit' guy is a complete moron. Plus Brittany Murphy just walks around like she's on drugs all the time. Like she was in 'Clueless', 'Girl, Interrupted' and 'Don't Say a Word'.
But most importantly…what about Eminem. Hmmm…Eminem starring as a white trailer park guy who can rap….it's hardly a stretch for him is it? If it was Danny Devito who pulled it off, then I'd be impressed… however in all fairness the boy is talented. He has confident screen presence and the 'battle' scenes are easily the best part of the film.
Nonetheless, the overall message that 'Rabbit's' strong point is in acknowledging his weakness' is as subtle as the eye make up on Brittany Murphy. Apparently he knows where he's going wrong anyway, so f**k you he doesn't give a damn……but I don't think it'll stop the world's critics from pointing it out too.
