Whether or not you like Marshall Mathers / Eminem / The Devil / Whatever you want to call him, I strongly suggest that you watch this DVD once. Just once. I’m willing to bet that you’ll get something out of it – and you might even enjoy it.

Eminem makes his big-screen acting debut in “8 Mile” alongside Mekhi Phifer, Kim Basinger and Brittany Murphy. Don’t let the big names fool you: Eminem is probably the best actor in this film. In fact, you won’t even notice that you’re watching an internationally-famous rapper at work: you’ll honestly believe that you’re seeing an unknown wannabe named Jimmy Smith, Jr.

The storyline is pretty simple to follow: Jimmy Smith, Jr (a.k.a. Rabbit) is living in Detroit, USA with his mother (Kim Basinger) and kid sister. He loses his crappy job, but finds an even worse job – stamping bumpers at a factory. The hours are long, the pay sucks, and his boss is always on his ass about one stupid thing or another.
Then there’s his mother, who offers him no support whatsoever. Her main concern in life is to go play bingo as often as possible – and fight with Jimmy about stupid things.
Jimmy is trying to get a demo recorded – his dream is to be a famous rapper (despite being as white as a jar of mayonnaise, something that definitely comes into play during this film).

I should mention that the name “8 Mile” is from the 8 Mile side of Detroit – the wrong side to live on if you’re trying to become a rapper according to Eminem (who makes this comment in one of the extra features on the DVD).
Director Curtis Hanson (L.A. Confidential, The Hand That Rocks The Cradle) decided that this would be an apt name for the film, so that’s what it is. Make sense? Good.

Jimmy’s friends are a ragtag crew of wannabe rappers just like himself. The most notable are Cheddar Bob (a complete moron) and Future (Mekhi Phifer – an emcee who hosts local rap battles).
These friends roll around town with Jimmy, trying to live out their dreams. They all want to be famous rappers – the only problem is that nobody can afford studio time to make a demo, which is of course necessary.

Future is trying to tell Jimmy how to go about the business of getting into the rap world. “Win some battles,” “Don’t pay any attention to that moron hanging around with Free World who keeps saying he can get you a deal,” so forth and so on.
Jimmy is trying to do his own thing, but it’s not working any better than anything else. His car’s a piece of crap that doesn’t run most of the time, his ex-girlfriend is stalking him at work and his new love interest (Brittany Murphy) wants to run away to New York to look for work.

This may sound boring, but believe me when I say that every moment of this film is action-packed, dramatic, and very entertaining. You won’t get bored or fall asleep while you’re watching rap battles, house burnings (yep - “the roof, the roof, the roof is on fire,” they chant while they torch the abandoned house), fistfights, frustration and even comedy.
Whatever the case, the emotion is intense from start to finish. If you want a film that grabs you from the first scene and refuses to let go, check this out.

There’s a little of everything in this film, really – too much for me to describe here, but I’ll try.

Some moments are funny as hell – such as the scene in which Jimmy is trying to fix his car. Future is helping him of course – but they end up doing a take-off on “Sweet Home Alabama” that’s funny as hell. (“I live in a trailer…I live in a trailer…” funny stuff – you can download it off the Internet, actually.)

Some moments are very inspiring, but not in that sappy “I’m learning how to walk again after a near-fatal car wreck” crap way – such as the final rap battle (B Rabbit vs. Papa Doc). It’s actually the best scene in the entire film simply because it’s the theme (which is of course “every moment is another chance” as you’ll see on most of the 8 Mile movie posters out there).

Then there are the “life-is-tough” moments that pretty much everybody can sympathize with – from Jimmy trying to fix his crapped-out car to his mother receiving a notice of eviction because she hasn’t paid rent in three months straight.

The actors in 8 Mile are first-rate. Eminem may be a newbie, but he’s the best at what he does. When you watch this film, you’ll honestly forget that he’s in it: you’ll become absorbed in the character that he creates.
Em goes from anger to sadness to passion easily – the transitions are as smooth and natural as if they were happening in the real world without the benefit of scripts or movie cameras.

Mekhi Pfifer’s performance as battle emcee Future is second to none. He’s a strong character, outspoken but honest, and very entertaining to watch.

Brittany Murphy, well, she’s kind of a groupie in this film, though she obviously has the hots for Jimmy. Her performance is pretty good, but I’m not a huge fan to begin with, so it’s not remarkable or earth-moving.

Kim Basinger plays a perfectly convincing trailer trash hoe, something that I never expected in a million years (seriously). She’s really great in this role – whether she’s getting angry, crying or just acting like a man-dependent loser.

Xzibit also makes a cameo appearance as one of Jimmy’s co-workers who gets into a rap battle with Vanessa (then Jimmy a few seconds later).

On a side note: Detroit’s undiscovered local rap talents were used in this film. For example, the lunch truck scene with Vanessa – she’s a Detroit rapper in real life. Her talent is showcased in 8 Mile - in a way that really gives attention to undiscovered talents and gives you a bit of a look at their lives (i.e. what it’s like to have skills but not be all over MTV).

DVD extras are more than sufficient – I actually spent time watching them, something I don’t often do with DVDs for some reason or another.

-Eminem comments at great length about what it was like to make this film. He explains various parts of the film (such as the scenes in which Jimmy is trying to write “Lose Yourself” – the film soundtrack’s first single). He also explains how much of this film is honestly related to his real experiences as an undiscovered rapper (very loosely-based, but still some influence is there).

-The never-before-seen video for “Superman” – a very raunchy video in which Eminem basically makes fun of every stupid pop boy band video out there. It’s hilarious – just like the song. Be warned, however, that it’s not censored.

-Rap battles with Eminem. During the making of 8 Mile, the director decided to include rap battles – a few of the extras battling with Eminem on camera. Four extras on the set made it, but they only got one chance to tape the battles – so, they basically had to come up with something really good, really fast, the first time.

They’re really, really good – very entertaining and a lot of fun to watch. Eminem wasn’t supposed to respond (he was trying to save his voice – he was getting hoarse after three days of shooting the film), but he ends up turning on his microphone and responding to them anyway.

Quite honestly, this is the best film I’ve seen in the last five years or so. I wanted to see it initially because it’s “the Eminem movie,” but I found myself really loving it because the story is so involving – and because it’s actually believable. You’ll have to watch it to understand that, so please do yourself a favor and go rent it. Now.

I caution you, however, that this film is rated “R” in the United States. This is because 8 Mile contains drug use (a little weed smoking here and there), a hell of a sex scene between Eminem and Brittany Murphy, violence (people beating each other up in fistfights), a healthy dose of foul language and other such things.
Don’t let that put you off, though – this film is less offensive than South Park’s movie if you can believe it.

One question that I have, however, is simply this: how in the world did they cover up all of Eminem’s tattoos for this film? He’s got a ton of them on his arms and stuff, but they’re all concealed. Weird.

Anything else you wanna know? See http://www.8-mile.com/ - or go order the DVD at Amazon (I got mine at Sam Goody for 20 bucks – more than worth it if you ask me).