Just cause you say Dawg alot does not mean you are 'real.' Spoilers!

Rating: 5/10 (4 June 2003)

I must admit that even though I do not like Eminem's music, the surmise of the film did intrigue me. Indeed watching the film I felt that I had much to identify with. However you realise that anybody with any dream could identify with this picture!
This may seem like a good thing, however it is a flaw. That is because once you start thinking about the accesibility of the film. You begin to realise that this is an extremely manipulative picture, which basically exists as public relations for Eminem. It is also a nice little money maker for Hollywood. People in PR get paid loads of money, money that I can only dream about. I therefore resent being made to watch PR by an an acclaimed director on my time! This film will obviously cause even more teenagers to think that Eminem is the second coming of Christ. You can almost hear the cash registers at Hollywood opening with glee at this film. What is apparent, more than anything else here is Hollywood in its greed hurriedly cashing in on the Eminem fad.
The cinematography is something that stuck out to me. What is shown is a very hard looking, poverty stricken Detroit. A Detroit that is full of ex-cons and welfare mums. It is obviously the perfect and humble base on which to start a superstar's life. The city looks real but everything walking around in it is false. The question of why the city is doing so poorly is again sidestepped and the viewer isn't told what is keeping these people in crap jobs. This factor makes the film kind of exploitative, its taking hip hop and rap, playing it to the masses as if saying, 'here is something cool and interesting.' But at the same time ignoring the whole hip hop history by not looking at why rap first came to Detroit.
The characters come across as fakes and phonies. Firstly you have Eminem himself playing Rabbit. he is portrayed as brooding and introspective, yet sensitive to the needs of others. He does this by being kind to Cheddar Bob who shoots himself in the leg. He makes fun of Exhibit but only to stick up for the homosexual man at his work. His tirades against women in the film are justified because all except 'the virgin,' his little sister, betray him in some way. In fact the sister seems to be nothing more than another emotional button to press on the audience. Eminem seems to have the biggest virgin/whore complex that I have ever witnessed in an entertainer. What is happening is that media spin tactics are being forced, like bits of broken glass, jaggedly down the viewers throat. O'l Curtis is maximising Eminems conventional side and his working class ethic to work hard and succeed. On the other hand we have dodgy Curtis downplaying the negative side of Eminem, such as his noted homophobia and his misogynistic hatred of women. Well they gave him a sister so he must love women right?
His friends also are about as real as Hulk Hogan and the other characters from the WWF. There is, Future, who is obviously based partially on Dre. He is Eminems mentor and almost personifies support. His other friends are just paragons of loyalty and support. How could a woman ever compare to his posse? Yet he is homophobic, maybe not. Maybe he likes hanging loose with the boyz!
All of Eminems friends are bad in a ghetto sought of way, but not really bad. Actually and predictably they all have hearts of gold. None of them, of course, use guns and this issue is sidestepped. It's more played up for comic effect with the scene with Cheddar Bob. Naughty Curtis has lil Kim Basinger screech her way into the epitome of bad mothers so she can become yet another symbol of adversity for Eminem. When she won the lottery after her bastard boyfriend left her. I just groaned. Can it get any more corny? I wondered this with beer. Yes it could and the ending with Eminem in rap battles shows just how corny one film can be.
Rabbit had to lose his first competition, why? Well to truly find himself in a macho sought of way he must go through a series of masochistic episodes. He is kicked out of his apartment by his ex. He is forced to move back into the trailer with his hated Mommy and then finally has to take a beating. Only through pain can he develop his identity enough to use it as a kind of weapon in the last part of the film. Calling himself trash and a bum he goes onto win the freestyle comp through what I call poverty rap. Eminem is not a gangster like Ice Cube or Tupac. However he gets kudos for being poor. This is enough to win him the competition because Papa Doc his competition is found out to be a poseur from a private school and has the real name of Clarence. Clarence loses his 'blackness' and Eminem gains street cred for being 'real.'
The end is the most interesting part of the film. Eminem just goes bact to work. He decides not to team up with his mentor, Future as an announcer at the club. Neither does he hang out with his buddies. What is the point? They no longer serve any purpose within the narrative of the story. He walks off into the distance like big 'ol John Wayne in any Western. It is odd because this is a film that draws two cultures together and now it pulls them back apart. Huh? Start the debate on this scene someone.
I give this film a 5.5 rabid, foaming dawg D.J. battles out of 10 or a C. Next time Eminem have some balls and make sure Inholywood represents life in the ghetto properly. Everybody sees through this!