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