8 Mile

Some of this film, loosely based on the life of Eminem, who makes his feature film debut, is pure shit. The movie tells the story of Bunny Rabbit (Eminem) and his fight to get above it all in scary Detroit, and some of it is terribly melodramatic. Kim Bassinger is 100 percent awful as his long-suffering trailer trash mom, and his motley crew of buddies is borrowed from every urban film cliché in the book. Then there’s Eminem, who ignites the screen when he shows his rage mojo, and that’s total fun to watch. I suppose a two-hour film of him just rapping would’ve been better, but this uneven film comes out slightly positive, thanks to the moments where he lets loose.