Haiku: Hustle & Flow

Rating: 5/10 (11 February 2006)

HAIKU: Midlife crisis turns / Mediocre pimp into / A jail-house rapper
FOUR PLUSES & A NEGATIVE: 1) Oscar nominated performance by Terrence Howard. 2) Rousing rap music. 3) Reminded me in the end of "The Harder They Come." 4) Strong supporting cast. 5) Runtime of 116 minutes felt much longer.
RANDOM THOUGHTS: I have to confess that I am not a Terrence Howard fan. As a Black Man, I am turned off by Black guys who "relax" their hair. I did like him in Crash, or at least the role he played, and the relaxed hair seemed to be part of the character making it less distracting. When I saw previews for Hustle & Flow, not only was the relaxed hair there (which might be a pimp thing), but so was the thug talk, drug use, rap music, prostitution, etc. Nothing against that aspect of life, but it depresses me in reality, so I generally try to avoid it in film. However, having recently joined Netflix, I am going overboard with DVD rentals. Ultimately, I'm glad that I saw it and would recommend anyone who questions the Best Actor Oscar nomination to rent it and decide for themselves. If this movie were about 10 minutes shorter, I might have enjoyed it more and rated it higher!
If you would like to read more of my haikus, visit my blog at richardwallenhaiku.blogspot.com