Hustle & Flow

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

The writing, acting and filmmaking make Hustle & Flow nothing short of amazing.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

The home-studio recording sequences in Hustle & Flow are funky, rowdy, and indelible. Brewer gives us the pleasure of watching characters create music from the ground up.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

The performances are accomplished, but the real star of Hustle & Flow is Brewer, a playwright who has written and directed a few other movies but who is effectively making a breathtaking national debut here.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

In a world of movies that try far too hard to move, entertain and dazzle us, the artistry of Hustle & Flow lies in the way it waits for us to come to it. We can walk as slowly as we want, but sooner or later, it's going to get us.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

The feel-good movie of the summer. And the song this pimp works up, about how hard it is to manage a stable of ho's, is catchy and moving.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Every good actor has a season when he comes into his own, and this is Terrence Howard's time.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Bill White

Speaks in the raw mumble of the dirty South. A regional film in the truest sense, it does for Memphis what its producer, John Singleton, once did for South Central Los Angeles.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

I found Hustle & Flow hard to get into at first, if only for its dialogue. But DJay's turf turns out to be everyone's turf -- a jagged landscape of hopes, disappointments, folly and fulfillment.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

Unfolds in the satisfying fashion of classic Hollywood movies that strike a balance between grit and heart.

Film Threat Michael Dequina

While never sacrificing any of the hard-knock authenticity and specificity of his characters and their milieu, Brewer has crafted a deeply felt film.

Empire Colin Kennedy

As soon as Howard steps up to the mic, the movie crackles to life.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

It's a winning formula, and when done right like it is here, it transcends the clichés and moves audiences.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

In Hustle & Flow, a star is born playing a star who's born.

Premiere Peter Debruge

A definite crowd-pleaser, Hustle & Flow has all the makings of a massive cultural phenomenon - if only audiences can get past the whole pimp thing.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

So much love went into Hustle & Flow that it almost glows with it.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

What makes the picture sail past its flaws is its earnest understanding of the desperation that drives people to regain control of their lives -- and the profound courage required to attempt it.

USA Today Claudia Puig

The best thing Hustle & Flow has going for it is Terrence Howard's powerful performance.

Chicago Tribune Allison Benedikt

Brewer achieves near perfection in this tense, intimate meeting between two lifelong hustlers.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

It's a satisfying experience, whatever kind of picture you label it.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

A weird fusion of blaxploitation and American indie, built on a template of old-style, follow-your-dream Hollywood drama. But it works - sometimes magnificently.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

It celebrates art, hope, and dreams, and you don't have to like hip-hop to appreciate the message or the way in which it is delivered.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Explosive entertainment.

The New Yorker David Denby

Ends with a burst of movie-ish mayhem, and then a burst of sentiment, but when Brewer, Howard, and Ludacris stick to the bitter texture of South Memphis failure and success they produce a modest regional portrait that could become a classic of its kind.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Director Craig Brewer has given his second feature film a vibrant pulse amplified by an outstanding cast led by Terrence Howard.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

The vibrant rap drama Hustle & Flow wraps the authentic around the inauthentic, telling an underdog story that sticks to formula, yet resonates with an undeniably real energy and texture.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

It's more of an urban fairy tale, a surprisingly charming story that -- in certain sections -- almost crystallizes into the sweetness of a Mickey Rooney-Judy Garland musical.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Craig Brewer's sweaty, feel-good story about a small-time pimp and dope dealer making one last, desperate grab at his long-deferred dream is driven by longtime supporting player Terrence Howard's subtle, go-for-broke performance as Memphis mack Djay.

Chicago Reader Joshua Katzman

Despite occasional patches of hokey dialogue, this drama by writer-director Craig Brewer is solid and genuinely uplifting.

New York Post Kyle Smith

Hustle & Flow promises gritty street drama but delivers "Pretty Woman" with crunk instead of Roxette.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) D.J. Considine

Fortunately, writer-director Craig Brewer manages to conjure a world so rich and believable that we barely notice the Hollywood predictability of the plot.

Slate David Edelstein

Howard might be a major actor. His DJay, though, is a major character in search of a major author.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Some will find it chicly inspired, recalling blaxploitation's heyday with its grimy urban realism. Some will rightly find it corny, absurd, and an insultingly limited presentation of options for the most disenfranchised African-Americans: I'm still waiting for the movie fantasy about the pimp who wants to get his GED.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

This disdain for women is not incidental to the film; it is integral to the fantasy Mr. Brewer is selling, which is that pimping is not as hard as it looks.

Newsweek David Ansen

Howard redeems this lumpy fantasy. Soft-spoken and mysterious, he presides over the movie with a dangerous, feline grace.

Village Voice Laura Sinagra

There's something wrong with Hustle. A bad aftertaste, and not just the dry grit of Memphis dust, but something meaner. A feeling that Brewer's sensibility is way off. Aside from Howard's characterization, the most indelible parts of the movie are the demeaning caricatures forced on DJay's women.

Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson

Spends most of its 114 minutes on the making of a demo tape. People in a studio, rapping and recording. If you're going to watch that, wouldn't you prefer it to be Dr. Dre, or Lil Jon, or whoever, rather than actors pretending to be their kind?

LA Weekly Scott Foundas

But while some may leave the theater tapping their toes and whistling the lyrics to such inimitable original ballads as "Hard for a Pimp" and "Whoop That Trick," they should hang their heads low and mourn the sorry state of the contemporary African-American movie.