Metascore
45 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 33 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 33
  2. Negative: 6 out of 33
  1. 75
    A film with a rich and convincing texture, a drama with power and anger.
  2. 70
    This isn't Sheridan's most complex or richest picture, but there's lots of life to it: This is an unapologetically glossy pop product, powered by a strong, old-fashioned sense of B-movie melodrama.
  3. Reviewed by: Michael Phillips
    63
    Sheridan's ensemble ensures that "Get Rich," the film, comes to life around the edges, if not at its center.
  4. 63
    On most levels his performance is as flat as his abs: very early Wahlberg.
  5. For all its biographical truth, Get Rich's journey into a ghetto of hustlers, gangstas and mindless violence is all too familiar.
  6. Reviewed by: Todd McCarthy
    60
    Mildly engaging but very far from being for 50 Cent what "8 Mile" was for Eminem, this lurchingly structured story of survival against the odds looks to get off to a strong start thanks to the singer's large following.
  7. 60
    Sheridan gives this a pacing and depth one doesn't often find in "urban" product, though Jackson, reliving his own life traumas, is handily upstaged at every turn by Terrence Howard (Crash) as his oddball manager.
  8. Neither powerful nor interesting. It is a run-of-the-mill movie ''product'' developed as part of a 50 Cent marketing plan.
  9. 58
    Terrence Howard has stolen 50 Cent's thunder - and his lightning, and his storm clouds, too - twice in one year.
  10. 50
    The film is shockingly light on music and heavy on crime scenes that play as bogus.
  11. 50
    Unlike this summer's compulsively watchable "Hustle & Flow," Get Rich or Die Tryin' captures none of the thrill of finding your voice, recording a demo or landing a concert.
  12. 50
    The erstwhile crack dealer born Curtis Jackson may be a prot‚g‚ of Eminem, but this shapeless and derivative gangsta saga is no "8 Mile."
  13. If, like me, you were hoping for "Scarface" as a hip-hopera, I am sad to report that Get Rich or Die Tryin' has heat, but not sweep.
  14. Reviewed by: Ken Fox
    50
    Fans of 50 Cent, whose own endlessly exploited past keeps him surrounded by Kevlar and bodyguards, will probably see the film for what it is -- a weak, watered roman à clef -- while admirers of Irish director Jim Sheridan (My Left Foot, In America) will marvel that he had anything to do with such a trite variation on the venerable "Star is Born" scenario.
  15. Reviewed by: Claudia Puig
    50
    Movie stardom is seductive, but 50 Cent and his fans will be best served if he sticks to to his day job.
  16. Hard-working to a fault, this is a movie that's all effort and no direction, a movie completely lacking in what its hero eventually finds -- a sense of identity.
  17. 50
    Too much of the time, Jackson is a complete blank, like he's bored with his own story.
  18. 50
    Marcus, like the real-life Jackson, survives being shot nine times. But this film is dead on arrival.
  19. 50
    Parts of Get Rich Or Die Tryin' crackle with energy, vitality, and texture, like the prison-shower fight that descends into a weird sort of slapstick farce. But 50's leaden turn drags the film down. Scenes celebrating his personal and professional triumph ring hollow, since Rich never really gets under his skin.
  20. 50 Cent sounds articulate in his raps, but as a lead actor, he talks like his mouth is filled with food.
  21. A motion picture with one foot in artistic expression and one in pulp fiction and commercialized violence. It wants the respect that goes with a quality production, but it can't resist providing the brutality and exploitation the film's core audience expects.
  22. The parts of Get Rich or Die Tryin' that feel most genuine have to do with friendship and family, rather than with criminal intrigue. But the movie ultimately lacks an emotional core. It will certainly make 50 Cent even richer, but it wouldn't have killed him to try a bit harder.
  23. This thinly autobiographical gangsta odyssey never achieves liftoff, and Jackson is unconvincing.
  24. 40
    Broad across and rippling with muscle, 50 Cent mumbles his way through his hits.
  25. 40
    Even more problematic is the script's clumsy, sprawling architecture, Sheridan's clubfooted sense of pacing and his grubby, indistinct visuals. The only upside? The Chieftains aren't on the soundtrack.
  26. 40
    Unfortunately "My Left Foot's" Jim Sheridan, that reliable purveyor of Irish struggle-porn, anchors us in tedious exposition.
  27. A gangsta rapper without fire in the belly isn't terribly interesting, cinematically or musically.
  28. Reviewed by: Aaron Hillis
    38
    Unstylized, inconsistent, unconvincing, and familiar to a fault.
  29. I expected Get Rich or Die Tryin' to be gritty, scary, maybe disturbing or thought-provoking. What I didn't realize was that it would be so dull that any other effect it could have made was wiped away.
  30. Reviewed by: Colin Kennedy
    20
    It's bad enough to ban on purely artistic grounds.
User Score

Mixed or average reviews- based on 96 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 25 out of 47
  2. Negative: 20 out of 47
  1. 2PacGame
    0
    50 Cent is not an actor & not a RAPPER.
  2. BenM.
    4
    The opening scene is pretty good, but it's downhill from there. Terence Howard as Bama is the best thing is this film, he steals the movie.
  3. This review contains spoilers, click full review link to view. This movie was powerful, emotional and violent. So the 45 Cry babies who couldn't handle the film because of that go watch Princess Diaries or something. This movie is not suitable for everyone and won't hit a wide ranges of audiences, even if most of 50's fan base. It is a very hard hitting film espiacially when his mother is murdered. For someone who doesnt do any acting and is able to do this entire film I couldn't rate this low. Full Review »