8 Mile is a great musical but as an inspirational drama it's trouble. Given that it revolves around a world where "keeping it real" is a permanent motto, it is, ironically enough, suspiciously phoney.
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11/11/02
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8 Mile (2002)
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Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:178
Fresh:132
Rotten:46
Average Rating:6.7/10
Consensus: Even though the story is overly familiar, there's enough here for an engaging ride.
Theatrical Release:Nov 8, 2002 Wide
Box Office: $116,638,030
Synopsis: Controversial rapper Eminem (real name Marshall Mathers) makes his big screen debut with 8 MILE, a bracing drama directed by the increasingly audacious Curtis Hanson. Set in 1995 in the bleak,... [More]
Starring: Eminem, Kim Basinger, Mekhi Phifer, Brittany Murphy
Director: Curtis Hanson
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Reviews for 8 Mile
Eminem plays a guy named "Rabbit," and he doesn't get any respect. Maybe going by the name "Rabbit" isn't the route to respect, yo.
11/11/02
About 3 miles to long and if you've seen Purple Rain, American Anthem, Rocky, Saturday Night Fever and to an extent Coyote Ugly and Glitter, you've seen 8 Mile.
11/10/02
Then there are the rap sequences where Eminem displays an energy close to unrivaled by any performance this year. In these scenes, he and the film show what they’re really made of.
11/10/02
8 Mile has an authentic feel that transcends the phenomenon of Eminem; this is a realistic story about a guy trying to use music to escape a dead-end life.
11/10/02
We’ve seen these character types before, but through the lens of Curtis Hanson, we suffer, carouse and dream right along with them.
11/10/02
A brilliant, engaging examination of people who dream of escape.
11/10/02
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11/10/02
Fittingly, avid Eminen enthusiasts and other targeted moviegoers will gleefully run this 8 Mile race and enjoy the antics of a misunderstood foul-mouthed rapping icon with layers of complexity
11/10/02
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11/10/02
Even a rapper needs to punch things up a bit, and 8 Mile, for all its hip-hop braggadocio, is a pretty weak riff.
11/10/02
If the part is not much of a mental or emotional stretch for him, [Eminem] acquits himself well enough for me to want to see him in other films.
11/10/02
In many ways, the movie is just one big cliché, but Hanson's style gives it more weight and heft than it might otherwise have.
11/10/02
Top CriticCurtis Hanson knew exactly what he was doing when he made 8 Mile.
11/09/02
8 Mile is a movie about youth and race and sex and growth that has no respect for youth, has a disturbing undercurrent of hatred for Blacks, thinks all women are whores and for which growth is as simple as not being too afraid to let your voice out.
11/09/02
"Soul's escaping, through this hole that is gaping. / This world is mine for the taking."
11/09/02
Who wastes time watching Tiger Woods/When real action comes from the boyz in the hoods?
11/09/02
There are a lot of stale -- and nefarious -- clichés in 8 Mile (Universal), but most of the time they're overwhelmed by the pulsing, grinding, hopped-up camerawork and the soulful star turn of Eminem.
11/09/02
There is a quietude to the film, even though it is punctuated by a lot of music and even more yelling. Its mood is soft and even humble.
11/09/02
8 Mile isn't about race or hip-hop as much as it is about making a valuable commodity more palatable to a mainstream audience.
11/09/02
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