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Hustle & Flow (2005)

tomatometer

82

Average Rating: 7.3/10
Reviews Counted: 154
Fresh: 126 | Rotten: 28

Hustle & Flow is gritty and redemptive, with a profound sense of place and exciting music.

81

Average Rating: 7.5/10
Critic Reviews: 37
Fresh: 30 | Rotten: 7

Hustle & Flow is gritty and redemptive, with a profound sense of place and exciting music.

audience

80

liked it
Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 116,407

My Rating

Movie Info

One man's struggle to rise above his circumstances prompts him to try a career in music in this acclaimed drama from writer and director Craig Brewer. Djay (Terrence Howard) is a low-level pimp and drug dealer who scraped together a living in the ghettos of Memphis, TN. Djay isn't happy with his life, and the realization that he's reached the same age when his father unexpectedly died has made him start thinking about changing his ways. Djay has always had a gift for spinning stories, and after

R, 1 hr. 54 min.

Drama

Craig Brewer

Jan 10, 2006

$22.1M

MTV Films

Cast

All Critics (162) | Top Critics (38) | Fresh (135) | Rotten (28) | DVD (35)

It's kind of a conventional story, but it's told in such a unique way and the locations in Memphis all feel very authentic.

July 25, 2005 Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | Comment
Ebert & Roeper
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Hustle & Flow suspends you in its spell of mood, of feeling, of climate. It's a pop picture that finds its richness in peeling down to the essentials of good storytelling.

July 22, 2005 Full Review Source: Salon.com | Comment
Salon.com
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Watching as a pimp, a pothead and a pregnant hooker play and sing in a makeshift bedroom recording studio, and becoming increasingly caught up in their determination and hope, it's impossible not to think that this is a part of the American Dream, too.

July 22, 2005 Full Review Source: Washington Post | Comment
Washington Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Unlikely as this may sound, Hustle & Flow -- about a low-down Memphis pimp who wants to be a rapper -- is the feel-good movie of the summer.

July 22, 2005 Full Review Source: New York Daily News | Comment
New York Daily News
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Of course it manipulates us; most movies do. But it does so with such sincere, funky confidence that I loved just about every minute of it.

July 22, 2005 Full Review Source: Detroit Free Press | Comment
Detroit Free Press
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Hustle & Flow has a heart that beats as loudly as the bass line on one of DJay's tracks.

July 22, 2005 Comment
Denver Rocky Mountain News
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Of all the exuberantly built-up beats, Taraji P. Henson's beautifully shocked and elated response to unexpectedly forming the nucleus of "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" gives "Hustle" its soul and won that song an Oscar.

September 24, 2010 Full Review Source: Suite101.com | Comment
Suite101.com

For an alleged indie hit, the film is nothing if not shrewd about audience-hooking and sensory-manipulation

September 5, 2009 Full Review Source: CinePassion | Comment (1)
CinePassion

This movie about a philosophical pimp is for adults only.

July 16, 2008 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
Common Sense Media

Edgy camerawork fails to distract from the fact that Hustle & Flow -- a hit a Sundance -- is about as edgy as the crust on Mom's apple pie.

December 7, 2007 Full Review Source: Eye for Film | Comment
Eye for Film

...may try to look all hard and realistic, but at its core it's really about heart. (HD DVD Edition)

July 11, 2007 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis | Comment
Movie Metropolis

...an inspiring and ennobling character study in which love and respect trump pure success.

July 11, 2007 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis | Comment
Movie Metropolis

The HD-DVD version of Hustle & Flow provides a very nice collection of extras, although only the movie trailers are in HD.

July 5, 2007 Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | Comment
Apollo Guide

Craig Brewer has a distinctive voice. He writes dialogue that authentically conveys the truth of real life while also touching on universal themes of hope and healing.

July 5, 2007 Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | Comment
Apollo Guide

Revives the healthy debate as to whether gangsta' rap is glorifying or condemning the thug life, while delivering the simple message that pimps are people, too.

May 25, 2007 Full Review Source: Upstage Magazine | Comment
Upstage Magazine

...fiercely original, thoroughly engaging...

March 8, 2007 Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews | Comment
Reel Film Reviews

Audiences will be seduced into setting aside their moral qualms and rooting for this hip-hop hustler.

February 26, 2007 Full Review Source: Film Journal International | Comment
Film Journal International

A ghetto fabulous flick certain to generate some healthy debate as to whether it is glorifying or condemning the thug life which is so celebrated by the Hip-Hop Generation.

January 24, 2007 Comment
Black Talent News

The characters are as comical as they are realistic, and the natural humor that comes from their aspirations and predicaments prevents the movie from seeming too earnest or self-important

July 21, 2006 Full Review Source: Movie City News | Comment
Movie City News
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Hustle & Flow

Excellent movie -- put Terrance Howard firmly on the map and gave Ludacris some acting street cred. Craig Brewer has a talent for animating the dark, forgotten corners of Americana.

October 3, 2011
jarobb3

Super Reviewer

He made this before he made Black Snake Moan, but now that I've seen both of films, I am convinced of two things: 1) Craig Brewer knows the South, and 2) to quote a skit from Chapelle's Show, He "knows black people". While this film does present a familair story, it is not executed in a totally cliched and formulaic

June 9, 2006
cosmo313
Chris Weber

Super Reviewer

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