30 Second Bottom Line: Marshall Mathers, aka Eminem, the man with more issues than Jet & Ebony put together, tries his hand at drama; not by creating any with his lyrical content, but attempting to convey it on the big screen &, in my opinion, he does a good job

Story Line: Jimmy Smith, Jr. is a young white man living in Detroit, Michigan in 1995. Like many people in the country (black & white) Jimmy likes hip-hop music. Jimmy's perspective on life, in addition to his way with words, causes him to be regarded as a bit of a genius by his friends. They make up the music group 33 & a third, which numerically reads out as 313, an area code around Detroit.

"313," Jimmy & his friends, have delusions of grandeur about the day when they will be a famous rap group, complete with the money, the fame & the women. However, like most people who have delusions of grandeur, they aren't doing a whole lot to make those dreams come true¾an increasing source of aggravation for Jimmy. There are other issues in Jimmy's life as well. Namely, his ability to say "it's not my fault" at times when it is, his penchant to start fights at the most inopportune times, his shaky relationship with his mother (& his mother's shaky relationship with reality), his relationships with women in general & his really poor financial state. This movie chronicles Jimmy's struggles to overcome all these obstacles to win the title as the number one `Battle MC' on his side of 8 Mile Road.

Tell Me More About It: As a rule, rappers can't act & actors can't rap. That's always been the case. Case in point: Mark Wahlberg, (a.k.a Marky Mark) good actor-CRAP rapper! Ja Rule, big-time selling rapper-HORSECRAP actor! Having said that, I was real excited to see this movie. I would have been even more excited had I known in advance that Brian Urlacher of the Chicago Bears was going to be in attendance at the screening & sit seven seats from me!

I was excited because I knew that this film was going to do what good films should do, & that's take me to a place I wouldn't go to on my own. I was also interested to see how Eminem would fare in his acting debut. This movie is semi-autobiographical so I didn't think Em would have a hard time pulling off the role, and he didn't. 1995 was a good year for hip-hop music & the music in the film reflected that. That time frame in the history of hip-hop had a true focus on lyrical content and ability, as opposed to these days, when it's all about making money.

The highlights of the movie are the battle rap scenes & that speaks to the movie's honesty to the time it represents. For those who don't know, a battle rap is where for a specific time frame, in front of an audience with the bright lights shining on you, you have to completely degrade your opponent with a rap you formulate ON THE SPOT! If that doesn't sound hard, go ahead and make up a rap…RIGHT NOW! Don't write it down, don't quote what you heard on the radio, just go! Now imagine doing that on stage with people staring at you, ready, willing and eager to boo you to the next state! If you like Eminem's music & are intrigued by his own life-story, you will be pleased with this movie.

Eminem-Screen debut	Brittany Murphy-"Clueless", "Don't Say a Word", "Girl Interrupted"
Kim Basinger- "L.A. Confidential", "Wayne's World 2" "Batman"	CURTIS HANSON /director- "Wonder Boys" "L.A. Confidential" "Greg the Bunny" (TV series)

Eminem-Jimmy Smith, Jr./B. Rabbit	Kim Basinger-Stephanie Smith (mom)
Brittany Murphy- Alex	Mekhi Phifer-Future/David Porter