Well-crafted and engaging

Rating: 8/10 (10 July 2005)

I'm an Eminem fan and have enjoyed his music going back to his first major label CD, The Slim Shady LP. I read a lot of advance press for this movie when it was first coming out that stated that it was very good, and that even those who were not Eminem fans might enjoy the movie for its engaging pace or for its powerful depiction of realistic urban life or etc. I was still somewhat skeptical about seeing this, because I worried about Eminem's acting ability. Plus I thought he might be releasing it simply to promote his career in hip-hop. I found myself enjoying the movie on multiple levels. I mentioned that I'm a fan of hip-hop and specifically of Eminem. Thus, I was able to enjoy the rap battles and casual freestyling done by Eminem and his 8 Mile crew. I also found it to be refreshing in its realistic depiction of the experiences of "B-Rabbit". We see him living miserably with his sleazeball mother and his young sister in a trailer, and we see him working thankless factory jobs for low pay and with little job security. The movie takes the time to show us the mundane aspects of Rabbit's daily life, rather than inflating him to superhuman status merely because of his aspirations to leave the trailer park life behind or because of his skill at rapping. One thing that honestly came as a complete shock was the inclusion of a gay co-worker at the factory at which Rabbit works. I wonder whether they included this character in order to soften the public image of Eminem, who had previously made homophobic remarks in his songs and implied a sense of homophobia in his public statements. This character is depicted as being a nice guy, who covers Rabbit's shift, and he does not exist as the butt of any homophobic jokes (at least as far as I observed). The ending is unique, I won't give it away, but let's say that it doesn't take a textbook approach and I enjoyed it for its bold choice to be different from Hollywood format. The depiction of the 8 Mile neighborhood seemed realistic enough, although I've never actually been to Detroit so I suppose I am not familiar enough to say for sure. The supporting actors give decent performances, and their characters are written well enough to allow them room to really act. I had worried that this movie might become simply a close-up on the main character and might therefore force other characters to deal with poorly developed backstories. But that wasn't the case. Most supporting characters had well thought out parts. Although B-Rabbit's mother did seem a bit hazily written, just generally sleazy and revolting but not quite specific enough to convince me that this was a viable character. I would recommend this movie to Eminem fans (although I'm sure most have already seen it by now) and also to anyone who has an interest in the way life is lived by 20something people in the tougher sections of American cities. It's not a glorified world of gunplay, but guns are a part of their lives, and few of them have found happiness in their work or personal lives.