Accurate, Interesting, Oddly Un-Hollywood

Rating: Null/10 (22 November 2002)

I don't know or care anything about Eminem. I grew up outside Detroit and went to movie to see if my neighborhood would be on film.
This is an unusually accurate movie about having an alcoholic parent and living on the color border in Detroit. The rest of this review is spoilery.
I think a lot of the reviewers here have entirely missed the point of the movie. It's not about Eminem. It's not about making it big.

It's about figuring out how to get to work on time when you live in chaos. It's about maintaining your dreams before you succeed. It's about putting up with and trying to take care of your family and friends even though you'd rather not (much of the time). It's about living in Detroit.
The individual performances were very good, and the characters were (mostly) unusually realistic for a film. Someone said Basinger was too young to be Rabbit's mom. She's 19 years older than Eminem--that's three years older than is necessary. She portrayed an alcoholic with astonishing accuracy. Believe it or not, there are many attractive losers in the world and in Detroit. Playboy does not recruit in trailer parks. Perhaps the character could have become a hooker, but that is not the happy life you see in movies. The only thing unbelievable is that her teeth were in such good shape. Dentistry is expensive.
Murphy's character, the girl who will do ANYTHING to get out, was also very realistic. Most of the friends were people everyone knows (I found Cheddar Bob slightly over the top, but his house was awfully familiar; I could smell the cigarettes).
I'm surprised this movie was made. I really enjoyed it.
The rap scene at the end was amazing. But if you can be that articulate, why would you ever need to hit anyone?
So interesting. 10 for 10 for me.