Hustle
& Flow (***)
review by Jon
Waterman
Djay is a struggling drug dealer and pimp with one ho that
he pushes to johns out of his unconditioned parked car. He
talks a mean game, but his lifestyle doesn’t represent
all the hype and the credit he gives himself. He feels like
he’s destined to make something out of his life, but
it isn’t until he makes a trade (a little weed for a
small electronic keyboard) that he figures out how. Armed with
inspiration and the ability to pimp (in this case, himself),
he just may become the next big from rags to riches rap success
story. All he needs to do is produce a record and find a way
to get it played.
Terrence Howard stars in a deserving breakthrough performance
as Djay. He, like others in the cast, does a great job of creating
a character you can empathize with, despite his line of work.
Coming from a middle class, essentially suburban city, it’s
tougher for me to imagine just how hard it really is out there
for a pimp, but Howard and costars help blur the line and put
a very real human face on some of the struggles and situations
they face in their rundown neighborhoods. He delivers some
great monologues that really make you believe in him. I’m
buying what he’s selling. Although, not really because
my girlfriend would kill me. And I don’t find Taryn Manning
(Nola the prostitute) attractive. And I don’t have money.
But I’ll be happy to burn his record for free. It’s
only fair, after all he got the money to make it from illegal
activity, so why should he profit. Honestly, though, the songs
here are actually surprisingly good. Written by the Three 6
Mafia crew, the movie contains several well fleshed out tracks.
I don’t know tons of their previous work, but these lyrics
are a far departure from what I have heard. This stuff is actually
insightful and intelligent while at the same time having great
hooks and a decent flow. I don’t know why these guys
don’t put the same effort into their radio singles, which
resort to the most unoriginal themes and monosyllabic rhyming
dictionary basics.
Sure the movie does well to maintain the street cred, but
is able to remain palatable to the high brow art crowd. In
that way, it reminds me a lot of “Boyz n the Hood” in
that it represents a particular social landscape in a realistic,
although toned down manner. They pay respect to their communities
without necessarily glorifying them. Neither resorts to easy-out
stereotypes in terms of drugs or violence unless it has a specific
purpose and definitive social commentary behind it. The difference
with “Hustle” is that at times it is much more
boring and isn’t nearly the same shock to the system
that “Boyz” was at the time.
respond to jon@filmbrats.com
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