Better than I thought...

Rating: Null/10 (23 February 2004)

As much as people continually told me not to see this movie, just because it was so bad, I was bored and decided to give it a try. Plus, I had really wanted to see Kim Basinger and Brittney Murphy in their roles, since those had been the only positive reviews I'd heard about the film. But, I have to say that it was much better than I had aniticipated.
Basic Plot: B. Rabbit (Eminem), is a kid on the "wrong side of the tracks" and more appropriately, lives on the wrong side of 8 mile. Growing up in Detroit, MI, he is berated and harrassed from the black community (more correctly, the black gangs)about not being black and how he tries to act it. However, with the support of his friends, and none from his mother (Basinger), he becomes stronger in the world of music and challenges himself, and his dreams.
Basically it's a movie about Eminem's life story, only with a few fictional characters thrown into the process. Murphy and Basinger are certainly more than noteworthy, and in fact, Basinger was so convincing as his mother, it's hard to believe she and Eminem had an affair in real life. Brittney's role was amazingly carried out and I love her in everything that she does. Eminem, however, I couldn't quite figure some of his facial expressions out. He looks upset when he should be crying and he looks like he's going to cry when he's upset. It confused me. And his acting with regards to the rest of the film, was hard to determine whether it was good or not. I mean, how hard is it to play yourself. But, at any rate, I felt that he did a good job, whether he was playing himself or not. At the very least, it's probably hard to remember what you did or how you acted when you were younger, so in that regard, I give him snaps for his efforts.
So, with that said I give the movie a 7.5 out of 10. Just because it was better than I thought it would be, and I liked the acting and all the music. Really well written script and music.
And that's my review.