Look past the hype and it's no better than average

Rating: Null/10 (4 May 2004)

I'd heard many good things about this film, so perhaps I was expecting too much.
I'll get the good parts out of the way. The cinematography and art direction are first rate, plenty of light and shade and good use of camera angles.
Eminem's acting is not as bad as I thought it would be, but I don't think he could do anything other than playing himself.
Right, onto the bad things. The script is no more than average, it jumps all over the place and leaves us none the wiser - leaving a not particularly startling insight into B Rabbit's mind.
It also leaves lot of loose ends. For example - what exactly does happen to their home - and in the context of the film, does it actually matter? What is the significance of him driving by his ex-girlfriends house and what did it add to the film?
You could also see most of the plot twists coming from 8 miles away and the supporting characters are weak and not entirely believable.

Future - for example dresses and acts like a daisy age hip-hopper. He sounds middle class and eloquent and really doesn't seem the type who would be a local success, hosting underground hip-hop battles. Alex's character is woefully underused and Kim Basinger just doesn't seem suited to her role of the trailer trash mum.
The comedy element in Cheddar Bob just doesn't work and ends up being grating and predictable rather than amusing. He is seriously overused, especially as his sole purpose seems to be to give Eminem the inspiration for his final battle.
Also, as it is set in inner city poverty in an extremely violent city, in the middle of the gangsta rap era, why is the pulling of a gun in a fight seen as something horrendously shocking? Why are none of the characters involved in anything illegal?
In short - it comes across like a bad student of wong kar wai's incidental, isolationist style of film making having a crack at a 21st century rocky story.