Everybody's Got A Dream

In 2004 my friend Cathy, who works for the Memphis Film & Television Commision, was telling me about this film she was working on, it was the age old story of a north Memphis pimp trying to bust out of his life through rap. She was excited by the cast, the storyline, the music and working with MTV people.

"Its going to pick up some nominations!", she said

Cathy was right, it did, nominated for best actor and I think to the shock of everyone, it won for best original song.



Hustle and Flow

I didn't share Cathy's enthusiasm for this film when it first arrived in theatres, it sounded too much like 8 Mile, which I could barely sit through. Then I saw both Terrence Howard and Ludacris were featured. Both were excellent in Crash so I decided to give it a look.

If you don't want to subject yourself to plenty of fowl language, violence and down-n-dirty ghetto life, then pass. Otherwise buckle up for the Terrence Howard show, he carries the whole thing.

I've spent alot of time in Memphis, so I recognized the familiar local accent, Howard had it nailed. His acting is far more dramatic here than in Crash, some of the scenes are so powerful I almost had to look away, great stuff. What surprised me was that he did most of his own singing. He and co-star, Taraji P. Henson, laid down the title track and although rap is not my thing, they both could pull off musical careers if that acting thing doesnt work out for them in the future.

I wasnt sold on Taryn Manning as the Wonder Bread white ho, but after a time her character really grows on you. In the end you applaud her more than the others.

The overall message is a good one - have a dream, go after it with everything you've got. Even if it doesn't work out, at least you have the peace of mind knowing you didnt submit to a beatdown. The methods and mechanism through which this happens might be rough and unconventional in Hustle & Flow, but you still can appreciate what they have to say.

8.5/10

Hustle & Flow