Hustle & Flow

[Kal]

Well... over 20 million for a movie that wasnt supposed to make much its not bad. And after the Golden Globe nomination and the good buzz about THoward, I think it will sell a good number of DVDs too.

I just saw this right now. Its not bad. The movie itself is nothing special, or original, but the way it plays out at the end I think its pretty good.

Terrence Howard was excellent. I was wondering why everyone was talking like he was so great, when I didnt really see that from him before, but I saw it now. I didnt like Taryn Manning much... she was ok, but I could think of like twenty actresses that would fit that part better.

What I liked the most is that this is the type of movie that really motivates anyone that wants to make it as an Artist. Not only a rapper, but anyone that wants their dream to come true. And its not done as a typical cliche, or a Hilary Duff movie.

I give it a B-

[modage]

Hilary Duff might've been good in the Taryn Manning part. 

[©brad]

This movie is awful

wow, really? cuz i loved it! i saw it a while back and forgot about it, but it would definitely be on my top ten.

superb acting across the board, very well-written. what exactly didn't u dig?

[matt35mm]

SPOILERS ALL AROUND, I GUESS

The two songs they make are pretty catchy, but I agree with Ghostboy that lyrically, it's just the same old beat that bitch suck this shit stuff.  That's not really the biggest problem with it, though.  I just found it ridiculously easy for him to achieve his goal.  What was it, a couple of months after he decided that he wanted something more that he made 2 rap hits with the help of his posse?  I know that, as a pimp, he's supposed to be very skilled with convincing people to do stuff, but it still came off as too easy.  The recording guy starts off as "hey man, get out my house!" and two minutes later he's "walking" with the pimp.

I dunno, I just don't think it'd all happen that easily.  Really making any piece of art is a tricky and messy business, and this movie made it all seem too smooth.  You'd think the makers of an independent film that took forever to make would know that.

Nevertheless, it was still a well enough made movie despite that gaping problem.  It was entertaining, looked great, with fairly well written dialogue and fantastic acting.  I think Taryn Manning was right for the part, with just the right amount of skanky.  Terrance Howard, I have nothing to say that hasn't already been said.  I very much liked the heart that obviously went into the making of this picture from the cast and crew.  The ease of making the music was the only problem I had with it, really, so I give it a...

B.

[md]

  I just found it ridiculously easy for him to achieve his goal.  What was it, a couple of months after he decided that he wanted something more that he made 2 rap hits with the help of his posse? 

girls shake your laffy taffy...

sadly, in the world of rap, specifcally commercial mainstream rap (dirty south rap applies) it is incredibly easy to be an overnight success....every hood is waiting for their local cat to blow up, and will deem his or her shit as "fire" so they can get an area code/street name shout out.  Its true, i'm not making this up.   I do agree though in terms of stucture, now that I think about it, howard seemed to beable to write and flow pretty easily. 

[matt35mm]

I just mean how easy it was to even create the tracks.  I believe he bumped into the sound recordist on the very same day he decided he wanted something more!  Then when they all were in the recording room, it was like "okay man give me some sound."  DJ Qualls then pushes a few piano keys and buttons and BOOM, the instrumental part is all done.  I don't believe that catchy hooks are quite that easy to come up with.  Everything magically fell into place, which takes away the most important element in a Rocky-type story: perserverance.

I don't really believe that, even in rap, there is an overnight success like that unless a famous rapper takes someone under their wing (I guess 'Lil Snoop Dogg or whatever the hell he was called got his start from Snoop Dogg, and that was pretty easy).  It's still something that people generally have to work at before they're any good, I'd say.  The success may come overnight in terms of they've been working at it for years with no success and then suddenly some local cat deems his or her shit as fire... but it still required perserverance up to that point.  Even if, let's say, DJay had been writing in his little pad for years now, and he's always had this beat and flow in his head (like he said he did), it still seemed way too easy to get it done.  No patience required.  It made me respect his success less.

[Gamblour.]

matt, I guess you missed the whole part where they kept saying they used to do it as kids. That was enough for me to assume that they had the talent at one point and just left it behind.

This film isn't awful, Howard is obviously amazing. The music isn't great, but these guys aren't rocket scientists. They're just average, and D Jay's lyrics are coming from a true, honest place. That's why the music is important, because it is a real outlet for him.

[matt35mm]

I guess I did miss that.  I had the sense that he didn't just pick up a pen and start writing his first rap that very day, and I recall him saying that he had this beat in his head always, and thinking about it and so forth.  I still think it was a bit easy to get the ball rolling, because I didn't feel the need for patience on DJay's part (he didn't seem to have much patience anyways), or perserverance.  "By any means necessary" has less of a meaning for DJay than it does for the makers of this film (who spent years trying to get it made).

And no, the film is not awful.

[MacGuffin]

I totally agree with matt. It may be hard for a pimp, but it was very easy to be a rapper. Situations and needs just seemed to fall into D-Jay's lap when he needed them, so it was difficult for me to 'root' for his character's success since I felt no struggle or drama. Terrence Howard gets all the praise, and deservedly so, but like Ghostboy mentioned, Taraji P. Henson stands out too.

Overall it was okay; predictable at times, especially the meeting with Ludacris's character. The songs were catchy and it'll be intersting to see if they even attempt to perform "Man it seems like I'm duckin dodgin bullets everyday. Niggaz hatin on me cause I got hoes on the tray..."at the Oscars.

[©brad]

so i'm like the only one who totally loved this?

maybe i need a new dealer. 

[modage]

i liked this, and a lot more than i expected to like it considering i hate music like this.  and i think the film worked primarily for 2 reasons: FIRSTLY, casting Terrence Howard in the lead.  instead of an actual rapper which would've been the obvious way to go, Howard was able to do so much with his performance which helped bring the movie above its subject matter.  because the story itself, as noted is completely standard.  and the SECOND reason is Craig Brewer as a director totally hit the right notes from the opening shot through the credits i was sold.  he wasnt going to be making an extended rap video but he was really making a FILM.  so as someone who would not have otherwise been interested in the film, that drew me in right away.  the movie would not have worked if either of those two pieces had not been in place. 

beyond that i thought the whole cast was good, (even dj qualls, anthony anderson and taryn manning! oh god!) and the film took a severe turn towards the end that i was absolutely not expecting. SPOILERS i had the impression that the climax would be convincing skinny to listen to his tape and then the movie would end as a message of hope that you knew he would blow up but they didnt go into it.  so when the shooting broke out i could not believe it, it didnt seem to belong in the same film and i kept going 'this has got to be a bad dream' but then it started to make more sense.  skinny probably gets like a million mix tapes everywhere he goes because EVERYONE is an aspiring rapper so even though they had a cool evening together it didnt mean anything to him.  but in beating a famous rapper and going to jail djay gets all the cred he needs to boost his career.  so, in that way its a lot more realistic and less 'fairy tale' ending that i expected. END SPOILERS

as far as the plausibility of how quickly they created the tracks and how he wouldnt have been able to become famous so quickly, i didnt think either were a problem. even though you'd like to think it really takes years of hard work even for an 'overnight success' thats not always true.  i think especially in music that a band or an artist that forms over a weekend can be the next big thing.  sometimes its just about having the right luck.  its not always the hardest working or the people who are in it the longest that end up rising to the top.  and the other guys knew how to record and compose so its not unreasonable they could've put those songs together that quickly.  if it had been djay and his hoes doing it themselves on that casio keyboard i wouldnt have believed it but this i could see.  as far as him running into the recorder guy the same time he needed to change his life, i dont think thats unreasonable either.  its a coincidence but its not as if he had said "i want to be a rapper, but how?"  he just knew he didnt want to keep doing what he was doing, rap just happened to be what came out of it but it couldve been something else just as easily i think.  i think a lot of people hear the success stories of artists like skinny and think that could be the way out for them too so i bought it.  and i thought it was especially nice when the cops pulled out the demo, just to further drive home the point about that.   so, overall good movie.  B-

edit: i just watched all the featurettes (which i rarely do with movies i rent anymore) and now i respect the film even more.  since everybody here wants to be a filmmaker this film is especially recommended to you.