look...if you had...one shot...to watch "8 Mile"...would you go for it? (you should)

Rating: 8/10 (14 May 2005)

Semi-autobiographical look at Eminem's early years in Detroit while he was trying to become a rapper. Jimmy "Rabbit" Smith Jr (Eminem) is a young man living in a trailer with his white trash mom Stephanie (Kim Basinger). But at night, he goes to the rap contests, and the contestants all try to out-dis each other.
More important than the fact that this movie stars Eminem is its focus on trying to make something of oneself in an environment where everything seems as bleak as can be. The ad-libbed songs definitely add to the movie's gritty feeling, with the type of profanity that one usually expects to hear only from a Joe Pesci character. But above all, it humanizes the rap world, showing why it is like it is.
I recommend this movie under all circumstances.