8 Mile (film)
| 8 Mile | |
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 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Curtis Hanson |
| Produced by | Curtis Hanson Brian Grazer Jimmy Iovine |
| Starring | Eminem Kim Basinger Brittany Murphy Mekhi Phifer Tashiena Pratt Michael Shannon Proof Xzibit Eugene Byrd |
| Music by | Eminem Jeff Bass Proof Obie Trice Xzibit 50 Cent |
| Cinematography | Rodrigo Prieto |
| Editing by | Jay Rabinowitz |
| Studio | Imagine Entertainment |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) | November 8, 2002 |
| Running time | 110 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $40,000,000 |
| Gross revenue | $242,875,078 |
8 Mile is a 2002 American hip-hop drama film, directed by Curtis Hanson and starring Eminem, Kim Basinger, Brittany Murphy, and Mekhi Phifer.
The film is an account of a young rapper, thought to portray Eminem, growing up in poverty-stricken Detroit and engaging in modern day flyting contests. Although the movie stars Eminem he says the movie is not a full portrayal of his early life and start of his rap career. As such, the film is set in the underground Detroit hip-hop scene in 1995. The film depicts white rapper Jimmy "B-Rabbit" Smith Jr. (played by Eminem) as he struggles for respect among his peers, mostly African-American.
The film was a financial success, was well received critically, and won an Academy Award for the Best Original Song for Eminem's "Lose Yourself", becoming the first film with a rap/hip-hop song to win an Academy Award.[1]
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Plot
In 1995, Jimmy Smith (Eminem) is a young and unhappy blue collar worker, struggling with different aspects of his life. He has moved back north of 8 Mile to the rundown trailer home in Warren of his alcoholic mother, Stephanie (Kim Basinger), his sister Lily (Chloe Greenfield), and Stephanie's abusive live-in boyfriend Greg Buehl (Michael Shannon). Jimmy is focused on getting his music career started, but he seems unable to catch a break. Just prior to the events of the film, he ends a relationship with his recently-impregnated babysitter, Janeane (Taryn Manning), and during the film, begins a new relationship with Alex (Brittany Murphy), whom he meets at the factory when she shows up one day looking for her brother.
Jimmy comes to realize that his life has remained largely the same since he graduated from high school. At first, he considers himself a victim of his circumstances and blames others for his problems. Over time, though, Jimmy begins to take responsibility for the direction of his life and realizes that he has a large degree of control over how it will go. He begins to question whether his group of friends, including Future (Mekhi Phifer), are holding themselves back from moving on to bigger things. With his onstage choke still fresh in his mind, he appears to decide that he will give up on or postpone his dream of a music career in favor of devoting more time to his day job and building a home life.
Jimmy's new-found responsibility becomes evident to his supervisor at the factory as well. At the beginning of the film, when Jimmy requests extra shifts, his supervisor laughs at him (because of his tendency to be late to work), but by the end, Jimmy's improved attitude and performance earn him the extra work he had originally asked for. However, a late night shift conflicts with the next battle tournament. Jimmy initially doesn't want to go, but a visit from Alex changes his mind. Paul, a homosexual co-worker whom Jimmy stood up for earlier in the film, agrees to cover for him.
The battle acts as kind of a "final conflict" with a rap group called "The Leaders of the Free World", who have harassed Jimmy throughout the film. This begins with the deterioration of Jimmy's friendship with Wink. The latter continually pesters Jimmy everyday with promises that he can help him "get big"- that he knows people with influence, and that Wink can hook Jimmy up with the support he needs. However, he is betrayed when Jimmy shows up at the studio and finds Wink having sex with Alex, Jimmy beats Wink up as Alex tries breaking it up. In revenge, Wink shows up with Papa Doc and the other members of "Free World" to jump Jimmy outside his home in the trailer park in front of Lily, with the mob badly beating him, and leaving him with a black eye that's present at the final battle.
Jimmy's friends hail him throughout the film as an incredible rapper, but until this point the film only shows snippets of his skills. The tournament has three rounds, and in each of them Jimmy faces a member of the "Leaders of the Free World". Jimmy wins both of the first two rounds with progressively more impressive freestyle raps. In each one, including the last he goes over the 40 second limit and the beat gets cut but he is still rapping which further showcases his abilities. In the last round, he is paired against Papa Doc, the tournament's most feared battler and Jimmy's main antagonist throughout the storyline. Jimmy is aware that Doc knows all his weak points, so he decides to address them preemptively with his freestyle. Jimmy acknowledges without shame his white trash roots and the various humiliations the Free World clique have inflicted on him, and then uses the difficult life he's had as a springboard to reveal the truth about Papa Doc: despite passing himself off as a thug, he has a privileged background. Doc, whose real name is Clarence, attended Cranbrook, a private school located in upper class Bloomfield Hills, and lived all his life in a stable two-parent household.
Jimmy makes a reference to "Shook Ones Pt. II", the beat that the DJ is spinning, by calling Papa Doc a "halfway crook", which sends the crowd into a frenzy. Doc is left speechless in rebuttal, drops the mic and backs down. As Jimmy leaves the venue, Future suggests that he stay and celebrate his victory while also offering a position that would allow him to host battles at The Shelter. Jimmy refuses, claiming he has to get back to work and do everything his own way, to which Future agrees. The final shot displays Jimmy walking away from the shelter, more confident of the future ahead of him.
Cast
- Eminem as Jimmy "B-Rabbit" Smith Jr.
- Kim Basinger as Stephanie Smith
- Brittany Murphy as Alexandra "Alex" Latourno
- Mekhi Phifer as David "Future" Porter
- Chloe Greenfield as Lily Smith
- De'Angelo Wilson as DJ IZ
- Evan Jones as Cheddar Bob
- Omar Benson Miller as Sol George
- Eugene Byrd as Wink
- Anthony Mackie as Papa Doc
- Xzibit as Male Lunch Truck Rapper (Mike)
- Proof as Lil' Tic
- Michael Shannon as Greg Buehl
- Taryn Manning as Janeane
- Brandon T. Jackson as a Chin Tiki Club Goer
- King Gordy as Big O
- John Singleton as The Bouncer
Reception
8 Mile opened to relatively positive reviews, and holds a 74% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[2]
The song "Lose Yourself", with music by Eminem, Jeff Bass and Luis Resto and lyrics by Eminem, won an Academy Award for Best Original Song and Grammy Awards for Best Male Rap Solo Performance and Best Rap Song. "Lose Yourself" also placed 93rd on AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs list. The song was later included on Eminem's greatest hits album Curtain Call: The Hits.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack was released on October 29, 2002.
Parodies
- Eminem's single Just Lose It and its video featured a parody of the film.
- Scary Movie 3 heavily parodied many elements of this film.
- Robot Chicken, which airs on Adult Swim, ran a short skit during the eighth episode of their second season[3] featuring the Looney Tunes characters during the final rap battle of the film. Bugs Bunny plays "B-Rabbit", Daffy Duck as David "Future" Porter, Porky Pig as DJ Iz and Elmer Fudd as Papa Doc. B-Rabbit wins the rap battle and is offered a record deal by Dr. Dre.
- "Weird Al" Yankovic did a parody of Lose Yourself entitled "Couch Potato" that appeared on his 2003 album "Poodle Hat".
References
- ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0298203/trivia
- ↑ [www.rottentomatoes.com/m/8_mile/ "8 Mile Movie Reviews"]. RottenTomatoes.com. www.rottentomatoes.com/m/8_mile/. Retrieved 2008-07-30.
- ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0437745/episodes
External links
- Official website
- 8 Mile at the Internet Movie Database
- 8 Mile at Allmovie
- 8 Mile at Box Office Mojo
- 8 Mile (film) at Rotten Tomatoes
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