A lighter film than expected, a street feel good movie. Enjoyable none the less.

Rating: 6/10 (10 February 2003)

I was very surprised by the lightness of the film, having heard that this was the unofficial story of how Eminem started, and hearing how tough and violent his life had been, I had thought this film was going to be far grittier and tougher than it was. As it stands, I was surprised by the ease of the life of the character, he had a job, his Mum was actually not that bad, and many of the fights that were started were purely down to him. However, that said about the story, the Rap battles were powerful and enjoyable, and some of the scenes have surprising humour  I laughed so much when the poor guy shot himself. Eminem also shows a good talent for acting; although one would suspect he is simply playing the character he played most of his life. Overall, a good movie, but if, as the title song suggests, you have one chance at making it, this characters chance wasn't that apparent. A not truly bad family life, and life just seems to turn around for everyone before our hero's chance seems to arrive, and after all that it doesn't seem like a payoff after all, especially for something that promises a feel-good pay off.