• Rating:
• Genre: Drama
• Movie Type: Musical Drama, Urban Drama
• Themes: Musician's Life, Mothers and Sons, Underdogs
• Director: Curtis Hanson
• Main Cast: Eminem, Kim Basinger, Brittany Murphy, Mekhi Phifer, Evan Jones
• Release Year: 2002
• Country: US
• Run Time: 110 minutes
• MPAA Rating: R

Plot

Controversial rap star Eminem makes his acting debut in this hard-edged urban drama, inspired in part by incidents from the musician's own life. Jimmy Smith (Eminem), known to his friends as Rabbit, is a young man trying to make his way out of the burned-out shell of inner-city Detroit. Rabbit's entire life has been a hard climb, and it certainly hasn't gotten any easier lately; Rabbit has just been dumped by his girlfriend, forcing him to move back in with his emotionally unstable mother, Stephanie (Kim Basinger), and he's getting along especially poorly with Stephanie's new boyfriend. Rabbit has a factory job that's tough, demeaning, and doesn't pay especially well, and he's convinced his skills as a rapper are his only real hope at a better life. Rabbit makes music with a crew of DJ's and MC's who call themselves Three One Third, among them his close friend Future (Mekhi Phifer), but his status as a white kid making music in a predominantly African-American community and culture is extremely intimidating, and after Rabbit freezes up in the midst of an MC battle, he's convinced he's missed his chance and that he's doomed to lead a marginal life as a factory rat for the rest of his days. With the help of his friends, and his new girlfriend Alex (Brittany Murphy), Rabbit struggles to work up the courage and the confidence to take one more shot at making his dream a reality. 8 Mile was shot on location in Detroit; the name refers to 8 Mile Road, a thoroughfare along the city's perimeter which effectively separates the middle-class suburban neighborhoods from the lower-class inner-city. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Review

The hip-hop generation gets its Saturday Night Fever with 8 Mile, director Curtis Hanson's searing, grimy look at the world of freestyle rap in mid-'90s Detroit and its most notorious progeny, Eminem -- or, more specifically, a rapper nicknamed Rabbit who happens to bear an uncanny similarity to the controversial superstar. The film seems tailor-made to deflect criticism of the media-hungry artist: The man otherwise known as Marshall Mathers is portrayed as a hard worker, doting big brother, and even friend to ostracized gay co-workers. And yet 8 Mile is no puff piece. Eminem's character is also hotheaded, insular, and, with his gray skull cap and headphones perpetually glued to his head, more than a little nerdy. Hanson and writer Scott Silver have managed to create such a vivid milieu, time period, and bank of supporting characters, a first-time actor can't help but succeed, and Eminem acquits himself well -- there isn't a moment when he's grandstanding or playing to the camera. Predictably, the women who orbit Rabbit's life -- including a defiantly cast but strangely appropriate Kim Basinger and an irresistibly tarty Brittany Murphy -- don't fare as well in the scheme of the plot, but they're at least understandably, three-dimensionally pathetic and/or two-timing. Tying it all together are the thrilling, incendiary freestyle scenes, which dovetail perfectly with the drama and underline the pitch-black insult humor that provides the burgeoning rapper -- and seemingly, just about everyone else in Detroit -- with his only real release. After its world premiere at the 2002 Toronto Film Festival, 8 Mile broke box-office records in the US when it garnered the second-largest opening ever for a drama. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide

Cast

• Eminem - Jimmy Smith, Jr., AKA Rabbit
• Kim Basinger - Stephanie Smith
• Brittany Murphy - Alex
• Mekhi Phifer - Future
• Evan Jones - Cheddar Bob

Omar Benson Miller - Sol George; Eugene Byrd - Wink; De'Angelo Wilson - DJ Iz; Anthony Mackie - Papa Doc; Taryn Manning - Janeane; Michael Shannon - Greg Buehl; Chloe Greenfield - Lily; Craig Chandler - Paul; Paul Bates - Manny; Jennifer Kitchen; Brandon T. Jackson - Club Patron; Proof

Credit

Mali Finn - Casting; Brian Grazer - Producer; Curtis Hanson - Director; Curtis Hanson - Producer; Philip Messina - Production Designer; Jay Rabinowitz - Editor; Danny Michael - Sound/Sound Designer; Gregory Goodman - Executive Producer; Dane A. Davis - Supervising Sound Editor; Thomas Betts - Set Designer; Craig Kitson - Editor; Mark Bridges - Costume Designer; Kristen Toscano Messina - Set Designer; Harry E. Otto - Set Designer; Scott Silver - Screenwriter; Eric Heffron - First Assistant Director; Rodrigo Prieto - Cinematographer; James Whitaker - Executive Producer; Michael J. Moore - Second Assistant Director; Carol Fenelon - Executive Producer; Kevin Kavanaugh - Art Director; Julia Evershade - Supervising Sound Editor; Eminem - Composer (Music Score); Jimmy Iovine - Producer; Stuart Parr - Co-producer; Paul Rosenberg - Executive Producer; Jeff Bass - Songwriter; Luis Resto - Songwriter

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