Hustle & Flow
2005 Directed by Craig Brewer
Synopsis
The music will inspire them. The dream will unite them. This summer get crunk.
With help from his friends, a Memphis pimp in a mid-life crisis attempts to become a successful hip-hop emcee.
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This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.
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I think this is the first time I've watched it since I saw it in the theatre back in 2005, and I think I enjoyed it even more this time.
I've yet to see director Craig Brewer's FOOTLOOSE remake, but if it's even remotely like this powerful, gritty "New South" semi-masterpiece and the similarly great, deeply undervalued BLACK SNAKE MOAN, it's gotta be better than it sounds.
Terrence Howard is mesmerizing as Djay, a low-rent pimp with a pitifully small stable of three "tricks," one of which is...um...on maternity leave. Itching to move on to greener pastures, he begins to nurture a long dormant dream to pursue a career in music, with the help of an old school friend (Anthony…
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Utterly fantastic tale of pimp DJay who, while in a midlife and financial crisis, decides to try and do something about it with his emcee skills.
This excels with its characters. There's some brilliant stuff with him and the girls he 'employs'. The dynamic between them is well drawn, particularly with the Rollergirl-esque Nola (Taryn Manning). But there are other marvellous character moments, not least DJay meeting up with a guy who has made it, hoping to pass over his tape but finds his voice lost among all the hangers on and leeches.
Really great entertainment. Loved it.
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Probably the 4th time i've seen this. Such a great flick. Didn't expect to enjoy this near as much as i did. Terrence Howard is amazing in this movie, and i thought Taryn Manning and Anthony Anderson both performed at their peak, a must see.
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Every now and again, when discussing films with like-minded film fans, I mention how much I love Terry Howard. And sometimes people look at me funny. That's how I know they've never seen Hustle & Flow.
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Directing is superb, Writing is top Notch and it's a damn shame Taraji P. Henson was not nominated for an Academy Award!!!
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Utterly fantastic tale of pimp DJay who, while in a midlife and financial crisis, decides to try and do something about it with his emcee skills.
This excels with its characters. There's some brilliant stuff with him and the girls he 'employs'. The dynamic between them is well drawn, particularly with the Rollergirl-esque Nola (Taryn Manning). But there are other marvellous character moments, not least DJay meeting up with a guy who has made it, hoping to pass over his tape but finds his voice lost among all the hangers on and leeches.
Really great entertainment. Loved it.
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"I mean, we man. I mean, you a woman and all, but we man."
Back in high school I would listen to rap and hip-hop, mainly the most popular, big name stars, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Eminem, but it didn't take long for me to come to terms with the fact that as an unhip white boy without any rhythm, I would always be drawn more to the sounds of angsty indie rock then the crunk pumped in da clubs. But damn it if I can't stop lamenting how hard it is to be a pimp. Hustle & Flow is another positive example, in line with 8 Mile and That Thing You Do!, of characters we're meant to see as creative…
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With a great soundtrack, great performances and a wonderful ending, "Hustle & Flow" is quite entertaining, even if it could have used tighter editing in places.
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Better than expected. It sells itself like a teen gangster musical, but it's much more sincere and entertaining that it would have you believe.
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There's so much that Craig Brewer got right with this movie - depicting the middle and lower class lives of African-Americans in Memphis, embracing the beat of hip-hop that thrums through the South - but there's far more that he screwed up. No need for a happy ending, the pithy relationships, the "dare to dream" message. None of that. The scrappiness of the story and its characters were wasted. Can't deny though that Terrence Howard was electrifying in the lead role. His charm, brutality, and emotion are what kept me from turning the movie off halfway through.
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This was a very humble indie drama. Terrence Howard's character is well played and the soundtrack is really awesome. It gets a bit cheesy at the end but overall, I would definitely recommend this film!
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A silly movie. Terence Howard, who I feel is a cheesy actor and is bad in this, plays Djay, a pimp/drug dealer in Memphis who tries to turn things around in his life by becoming a rapper. A fair amount of this movie, especially in the first half, plays like an SNL skit, with hokey conversations and moments so banal they seemed like they should have been jokes. There's Djay's plot-inducing run in with a sampler keyboard, his laughable tears while watching a gospel singer, or his entire dreamy-eyed. pimp-with-a-heart-of-gold routine. It does get better in the second half, and although the final plot turns are a little nutso, I definitely got into it more as it went on. Ludacris…
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Why didn't I see this until now?