Review of Hustle & Flow (2005) by Nathan C — 05 Sep 2011

It's nothing more than a mediocre 'rise-to-the-top' flick that doesn't get on top. But I was hustled successfully, being lured by positive word-of-mouth.

A pimp, Djay (ok??), may be fine selling drugs and marketing prostitutes, but realizes that he may die without fulfilling his dream. So, he stumbles upon his old friend, trades pimping for rapping, and must find an insanely successful mogul to achieve his goal of being heard.

The most shocking thing about this movie isn't the gritty depiction of the Memphis underground, but that it's original. I mean, how could it be so weak? Through the means of an uneven soundtrack (play one decent song, the next one is annoying), stereotyping its characters and giving some short shrift, and lackluster direction that seems dazed. What is it supposed to be? An inspirational story? An urban drama? A blaxploitation flick? Ultimately, it can't be all three, and thus comes off as a poor man's "Taxi Driver"... oh, there's some rap music, too. Speaking of which, famed rapper Ludacris was disappointing in his role and lacked the spark that could give the film some life. Terrence Howard was rather underwhelming as well, weird enunciation of "man" notwithstanding. And of course, the last half-hour must take a violent turn because it's one of those movies, thus delaying the inevitable rise.

Despite the film's weaknesses, it has a few assets that prevent it from being generic. Well, the supporting cast is decent, and some of the score is good. There's soul in Memphis, all right. If only the movie played more off of it, with the whole 'everybody's gotta have a dream'. That's good. I suppose the opening monologue was decent. It's realistic, I'll give it that in spite of the improbable ending.

It's hard out there for a pimp, but it's even harder for this film to live up to the hype. If anything, this'll go down mainly as an unfulfilling film, acting as filler for the next big thing to come since Biggie.