Friday, November 8, 2002

8 Mile, the new film by Curtis Hanson, uncomfortably smears the line between roman a clef and rags to riches saga. The major screen debut of rapper Eminem is a tale of a working class inner city boy who aspires to transcend his dead end home life utilizing his musical gift. The drama is meant to derive from both his humble roots and the fact that he’s stepping into a milieu culturally dominated by blacks.

Whether, or to what extent, the story holds up the mirror to its star’s personal history ultimately matters little. It is an intriguing element swept under the carpet of a warhorse scenario that’s been fought hundreds of times on screen. To that end, it should be noted the conventions have been done better and with greater originality and insight by such antecedents as Rocky, Dirty Dancing and, especially, Saturday Night Fever.

Scott Silver’s (The Mod Squad) screenplay is abrasively old-fashioned in attitude. Eminem and his youthful cronies exist in spirit in the world of movies and not the geographic reference of the title to an area that divides Detroit economically. They are the kids of The Blackboard Jungle or countless Roger Corman movies dressed up for today and using the argot of the times.

Jimmy Smith, aka “Rabbit” (Eminem), works on the assembly line at an unnamed Motown automobile company. He’s just split up with his girlfriend and moved back into the trailer occupied by his single mom (Kim Basinger), her new boyfriend and his largely neglected younger sister. Though he can fight with the best of ‘em, an artist’s heart beats beneath his rough-hewn exterior. Jimmy is a mofo rapper, a fact well known by his interracial posse but yet to be identified in the wider world. The young man broods like Hamlet, struggling to take the next step - competing in a battle against the proven giants in the field.

Hanson should have been an apt choice to put some flesh on the clichés. Instead he’s intent on making a style piece of 8 Mile. And there’s no denying that he paints a world that matches the intensity of his central character. The seamier side of Detroit is conveyed with a dizzying intensity in the images of cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto and designer Philip Messina and moves to the incessant beat of the ‘hood due largely to a relentless pace set by editors Craig Kitson and Jay Rabinowitz.

However, it’s no more than window dressing for the essentially banal yarn. The characters hoe to stereotype and derision. Jimmy’s gang includes a noble black man and a dumb redneck and the women are glorified whores with golden hearts. The promise of something meatier threatens to emerge at every turn but the vista around the corner is decidedly like the one we’ve just passed through.

As with so many American movies of the past 20 years, what keeps us watching are the performers. One remains hard pressed to certify that Eminem has acting chops. Still, he’s a compelling presence who imbues Jimmy with a singular veracity and it proves a mixed blessing for the movie. Because he is who he is, the question of ability is never in doubt and when the character finally lets loose in the mike, it’s ironically anti-climatic. The scenes that should have established his musical talent occur off-screen or are heard on the soundtrack and that’s endemic in the film’s sloppy storytelling.

The rest of the cast struggle to make something of roles that are no more than sketches. Mekhi Phifer and Evan Jones provide humanity not dimension in his gang and Anthony Mackie is little better than a paper tiger adversary. The women are less well served, particularly Brittany Murphy tarted up as a new romantic interest in Jimmy’s life with a moral compass caught up in a magnetic field. And, while Kim Basinger is unapologetic in her depiction of a self-absorbed, largely emotionally absent mother, we crave to know more about her hard-bitten journey. As it is the depiction of the women is hateful and the climate of racial tension remains superficial.

8 Mile has the rare pedigree that could have appealed across the spectrum of the movie-going public. It’s a missed opportunity that plays to an indiscriminate audience with low expectations that will be well served.

– Leonard Klady

 

A Universal Pictures release of an Imagine Entertainment production. Produced by Brian Grazer, Curtis Hanson, Jimmy Iovine. Director, Hanson. Screenplay, Scott Silver. Cinematography, Rodrigo Prieto. Editors, Craig Kitson, Jay Rabinowitz. Production Design, Philip Messina. Costumes, Mark Bridges.

Cast: Eminem (Jimmy “Rabbit” Smith, Jr.) Kim Basinger (Stephanie Smith), Brittany Murphy (Alex), Mekhi Phifer (“Future”), Eugene Byrd (“Wink”), Evan Jones (“Cheddar” Bob)

 

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