2002 Perry Como biopicRating: 13/20
Plot: Li'l Bunny Man (or something) lives in a mobile home with his mother and a little girl who is either his sister or his daughter. He works a tedious job in a factory but has big dreams of somebody making it big as a lounge singer. He goes to his friend's club to participate in rap battles since that's apparently the only there anybody has to do in Detroit, but once on stage, he chokes every single time. Meanwhile, there's a mom's boyfriend, there's a girl, and there's a rival rap-battlin' gang who are up to no good. Where's the Insane Clown Posse when you need them?
This would be a better movie if they gave me some reason to care a little more. They almost got there. I felt for Eminem's character, ostensibly based on the real Eminem. He's set up as the underdog nicely enough, but I never really bought in to that conflict with the New World Order or whatever they were called, and his other girl problems, work problems, and mobile home problems just seemed too much like movie problems. When things really start to go downhill for Bunny Rabbit Boy, it's such a quick succession of troubles. Bam bam bam. Hardships hit the guy faster than his lyrical flow. Eminem the actor is fine, but (and keep in mind that I'm not a rap battlin' aficionado or anything) I really couldn't see how he was any better at the contest thingy than the other guys. Kim Basinger plays his mother like she's unsure about the character, and the late Brittany Murphy might as well have been made out of cardboard. The music's completely appropriate, and I'll let you decide for yourself whether or not I mean that as a positive or negative. I enjoyed watching 8 Mile despite its bordering on either a vanity project or either a rip-off or update of Saturday Night Fever. It almost felt inappropriate to watch this without my b-b-b-boogie shoes near the end. So there were lots of things I enjoyed about this movie, enough to make me glad I watched it, but there was also so much that just caused me to throw my hands in the air and wave them like I just don't care. And by the way, would you call that an indeterminate ending? Unless a sequel planned, it seems that this just leaves Li'l Foo Foo in a situation where he's going to get the crap beaten out of him again, right? I mean, he called them gay and all.
Note: I have informed my principal that I will not be returning next year because I'm going to try to start my career as a battle rapper. 8 Mile inspired me, but a fortune cookie confirmed that the decision was a good one. Wish me luck.
3 comments:
I learned nothing of the titular 8 Mile Road in your review.
I hate rap music. I hate hip-hop nearly as much. Since the late 80's I have kept waiting for them to go away, but they just won't. If someone had told me I would really like a movie starring a rapper and featuring a great deal of rap music, I would have told them they were out of their #@*$!^& minds. That fact that I did really enjoy "8 Mile" says everything about Eminem's strong and charismatic performance and his talant. Yeah, it's cliche artist/athlete overcoming his environment to make it, but it generally works very well and in a totally original venue. The rap is clever (love the Beaver shot), "Lose Yourself" is the only rap song I may ever like, and I was really pulling for the lead. A 16.
I only watched this because I thought it had to do with the Byrds.
I knew you liked this one because I remember seeing a copy at your house the first time I was there. I'm guessing you've got the soundtrack, too.
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