Highly entertaining film

Rating: 9/10 (9 April 2007)

I really enjoyed it this movie. I know you could easily argue that it was clichéd, manipulative, misogynistic, one-dimensional and so on, but I just found it immensely likable and well crafted in all departments. It genuinely felt like a Rocky or Saturday Night Fever for the 00s while I was watching it.
Terrence Howard was outstanding as Djay. It's a fresh, vibrant and charismatic star turn fully worthy of his Oscar nomination. Seeing this after his wildly different role in the same year's Crash just confirms his striking versatility. There was a lot of justifiable praise for Taraji P. Henson as Shug, the pregnant hooker who sings the chorus on "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp", but I think Taryn Manning almost stole the show as Nola, the young hooker with the blonde braids that Djay confides in; I'm surprised there was so little mention of her performance in most reviews.
The songs were all naggingly catchy  I can't get "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" out of my head now. All in all, this was pretty irresistible entertainment.