Through the eyes of a non-Eminem fan...

Rating: 8/10 (7 April 2003)

Coming home from a long day at work, I planned on retiring to my room to relax and partake in my favorite past time ritual: watching B-movies. Tonight's feature presentation? Spiders 2 starringwell, staring no one that's important, but that's not the point. As one could deduce from the title, the film revolves around giant arachnids constructed from plaster and other molding materials whose sole purpose on earth is to terrorize young nineteen year old couples about to consummate their premarital love. Sound interesting? Moving along, as I stepped through the door to my house, there lie on the dining room table, a rented copy of `8 Mile'. Going upstairs only to find my brother, the renter of this movie, asleep in his bed, I decided not to let his money go to waste on a movie that no one was going to watch. And so began my trip down 8 Mile road
Before I can talk about this movie, two things must be said. Number one, I'm not an Eminem fan. I don't like rap music, not because I'm your average white suburbanite, but because it truly does not appeal to what I like to hear in my music. As for Eminem himself, I think the man is somewhat of a genius; he knows exactly what to say, he knows exactly who to offend, and he definitely knows who is going to take a stand against him (which is what he plans on). This Detroit rapper isn't just a troubled youth from the streets, he's much more; he's got brains. And although being an Eminem fan has nothing to do with being able to enjoy a movie, it does when the context of said movie revolves around Eminem, which leads me to the second thing that needs to be addressed: the basis of this film. We have to make clear that this film really revolves around Eminem's life; it's a semi-biographical piece. The fact is, put Eminem in any feature film as the main character at this point in time and it's going to succeed. However, put Eminem into a feature film discussing his taboo life which is covered by everyone from household kids to senators in Washington, and you've got yourself a blockbuster.
Now that that's out of the way, finally, we arrive at the movie itself. After almost two hours straight consisting of a ritualistic, movie-watching silence and no in-between pausing, the verdict has arrived. Eminem is guilty of an excellent job of debut acting and this movie, which serves as his partner in crime, is found to be truly worth the near two hours that it takes to watch. From start to finish, this film creates such interest in its struggling characters, whether their on the screen for one minute or one hour, that the pace becomes unrelenting regardless of the scene moving at a fast or slow pace. Credit must also be given to the set designer and lighting technician who both created an atmosphere, which could take any six-figure CEO watching this film out of their mansion and into a trailer park. The combination of freestyle rapping set in with the night sky scenery and police sirens in the distance create this ambient affect, which you truly don't get in many well-crafted dramas such as this one. All together, for those who are on the ladder about whether or not to partake in the viewing experience of `8 Mile', I have this to say: take it from a heavy metal listening, horror movie watching, white, middle class suburban college student, this movie will have you mesmerized regardless of social status and leave you feeling inspired to pursue your own dreams of excellence.
And I suppose that's where the problem with this movie begins, with the pursuit of excellence. Or better yet, Eminem's excellence. Those of us who finished the film thinking that we could stand up to our enemies, burn the bridges we built with our parents, and fight anyone in our way, need to take a look at the big picture. Sure, it's broadcast on national television all the time, stories about how people go from nothing to something and make a life for themselves; Jewel lived in a car, Eminem lived in a trailer park, but the reality is none of us are going to win rap battles, pave a path to Dr. Dre's record label, and get a movie based on our lives. My point is, the inspiration one gets out of this movie, while at first is a nice warm feeling, quickly fades as one realizes that it's impossible to live the life that Eminem has and even more impossible to rise to his level of stardom. It's a dream that honestly, maybe only one or two of us will get to live. It's with that said, that the inspiring feeling one gets out of this picture is false, because none of us will follow Eminem's footsteps.

Otherwise, there's the usual gripes with lots a films: some bad dialogue, some lousy acting, one scene with unnecessary sex talk from Kim Basinger that had absolutely no place in the film and felt very out of context. It was probably added to stress the fact that Em's mom was not a very sophisticated woman, but it ended up delivering the message with poor taste and really just got me to laugh, which also could have been why it was used. On a side note, `Cheddar' of Eminem's posse was also a lazy addition and unpleasant idea. Used mainly to emphasize Em's unique style, this token white character adds a sitcom feel to the drama of the story. Every time he says some dorky `white person' line, I anticipated canned laughter to kick in directly after.
But the biggest problem this movie has is Brittany Murphy's character, Alex. While everyone else in the film is obviously not pleased about his or her situation, be it in the rap world revolving around Detroit, or even Detroit itself, Alex comes along and 8 Mile goes from compelling drama to ghetto `Almost Famous' (That's the best way I can think to describe it, you know, `Almost Famous' with Kate Hudson and Patrick Fugit?) Brittany Murphy plays a dirty Detroit vixen who perfectly mimics Almost Famous' Penny Lane played by Kate Hudson, except this time instead of having Ms. Penny Lane inspire an up and coming journalist with her connections to the rock and roll world, this knock off Penny Lane inspires a rapper by, well, unconventional means. Alex is an unrealistic, unwelcome, and out of place part of this film. She acts like no one in the rest of the group and sticks out like a sore thumb. This is the only part of the film I had major issue with.
Overall, I'm giving `8 Mile' an eight out of ten. I really enjoyed the movie much more than I though I would and have found myself retracting the negative comments I made about it without even viewing it first. Anyone looking for a movie to watch on a night where you have nothing to do can pick up this film and really get into it without getting bored. The pacing is fast, the rap battles are intriguing, and character development proceeds at rapid paces and never lets go. Even if you're not an Eminem fan, if you liked the proceeding descriptions of what this movie has to offer, I'd recommend you at least rent it.