Eminem fares better than Britney ever did

Rating: 8/10 (16 December 2002)

If the lack of success of recent movies like `Crossroads' and `Glitter' were any indication, `8 Mile' would just have been another movie starring a famous musician trying to translate their record sales to a credible film career---and failing miserably in the process. With an excellent director in Curtis Hanson (`LA Confidential', one of the best films of the 90's) and Brian Grazer, producer of last year's Best Picture winner, attached to the project, Eminem won't be suffering the same fate as Mariah or Britney.
`8 Mile' takes its name from the road that separates the suburbs from the slums in Detroit. For Jimmy Smith Jr. (Eminem), 8 Mile is the obstacle he must surpass to be truly happy in his life. Jimmy has been forced to live with his deadbeat mother (we don't see many of those in movies these days) played by Kim Basinger in a cramped trailer after a breakup with his girlfriend Janeane. He works at a dead end job in a stamping factory making bumpers, a place where only `ex-cons and welfare moms' are employed. He needs to escape the violence and desperation of a neighborhood built on broken dreams. The only way he can beat the odds is to gain prominence in hip-hop.
Eminem does pull off a good performance in his film debut, but one can give him only so much credit in a film loosely based on the events of his own life. He does play a toned down version of the Eminem we know, this movie is almost an explanation of how he ended up writing the songs that he does about his ex-wife and mother. What makes him look that much better acting wise are the performances of the supporting actors around him, most notably Mekhi Phifer as Future, host of the battle raps (basically a fight with words), who acts as somewhat of a guide to Jimmy throughout the film. The role of Jimmy does require the talented rhyming skill something even non-fans cannot deny that Eminem possesses, best on display during the film's climatic battle.
Although it's all in the movie: the sex, violence and language in `8 Mile' is never exploited, not one character is murdered in the film. `8 Mile' is a meaningful film about the element of hip-hop beyond the expensive cars and objectified women we normally see in music videos. While it's not Best Picture material, `8 Mile' succeeds at what it set out to do, to show parents and cynics what all the fuss is about (not for Eminem, but for the music as a whole) and to give dedicated hip-hop fans what `Saturday Night Fever' gave to disco fans 25 years ago.
Grade: A-