An Interesting Film About an Uncommon Subject

Rating: 7/10 (13 April 2016)

Public Enemy's Chuck-D once said "Hip-Hop is the CNN of the ghetto." If that be the case, N.W.A. and the talented artists that composed the super-group are the Walter Cronkite of urban black youth in the early nineties. Formed with the collective talent of Ice Cube, Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, DJ Yella, MC Ren and Arabian Prince, the music of N.W.A. would become infinitely notorious with its anthem F*** tha Police. While comparatively short-lived as a group, they became pioneers, forging a new subgenre of music known as gangsta rap.
It makes perfect sense that a movie would be made about the group, their tumultuous first tour, their breakup and their eventual (kind of) reunion. Though with all but one member of the group alive and well, the history of this films development is arguably more interesting and more hectic than the movie itself. The film originated in the mind of writer S. Leigh Savidge who wanted to concentrate on the partnership between Eazy-E (Jason Mitchell) and manager Jerry Heller (Giamatti) as they forged Ruthless Records. After rewrites, Tomica Woods-Wright (wife of Eazy-E and owner of the lions share of N.W.A. song rights) was approached to head the project as producer. As rewrites mounted, more screenwriters were hired and the scope of the film got larger, more and more producers joined the project. A total of sixteen producers are credited for the making of Straight Outta Compton; and yes two of them are former members of N.W.A. Ice Cube and Dr. Dre.
I say all this to point out how good Straight Outta Compton is despite its long crooked journey to the screen. You would think that all the cooks in the kitchen would make for one confusingly disjointed film. Fortunately after years of development, and a number of rewrites the film itself is a well-made, well-told, well-oiled machine. It recollects the impact of the group's rise with gusto while keeping with the ethos of the group. O'Shea Jackson and Corey Hawkins do wonderful jobs portraying Ice Cube and Dr. Dre respectively. Energized by the force and rawness of the story, the two manage to find equal footing in a crowded field of actors walking on as living legends of the gangsta rap movement. Jason Mitchell also does a fine job giving a sense of pathos to Eazy-E though he falters a bit when the third act flirts with aspects of melodrama. The real find here however is R. Marcos Taylor who portrays the lawless Suge Knight whose disreputable antics as the co-founder of Death Row Records were legendary.
Yet despite the film's stellar ensemble acting and despite it's break with commonplace music "rise-and-fall" stories, the film still feels like an assortment of compromises. Halfway through the movie, after Ice Cube's exit from N.W.A., Eazy and Ice take to the studio releasing tracks meant to diss the other in an escalating battle of oneupsmanship. Yet we're never too aware of the reasons for such resentments. There's vagaries about contracts but nothing concrete that allows us to really take sides. All the members of N.W.A. as portrayed in Straigtht Outta Compton, are uniformly hungry for the limelight, suspicious of authority and aggressively misogynistic. Yet rarely do they cross a line of good taste and good humor that would make us think twice about rooting for them in the first place.
All those compromises stack up and are ultimately dumped on the sniveling lap of Jerry Heller who by the end is treated by the film as a pathetic, simpering but somehow maleficent power broker. S. Leigh Savidge had stated publicly that half the battle of getting the film made was getting Ice Cube, Dre. Dre and Tomica Wood-Wright talking to each other. I suppose among the arguments, negotiations and breakdowns in communication, the one thing all producers could agree on was s***ting on Jerry Heller; a man who I'm sure is far from innocuous but apparently has grounds for a defamation lawsuit against the film.
Don't get it twisted, the film, if ignoring the drama behind the scenes is still a real humdinger. It's a fine story about the birth and proliferation of gangsta rap sure to have fans of the music genre drool over the likeness and portrayals of various rappers at the beginning of their career. And let's not forget the soundtrack which not only features tons of N.W.A. hits but manages to insert some Snoop Dogg, a little of Parliament and a sneaky insert of Tupac Shakur's "California Love". Even if you're not a fan of gangsta rap, Straight Outta Compton is still worth your time, I'm just not sure it's worth all the fuss.