8 Mile

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Transcends its star's controversial career and, in the bargain, stands head, shoulders and heart above every other Hollywood movie that we've seen so far this year.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Movie stars radiate a power -- physical, erotic, spiritual -- that draws an audience into their orbit. Yet watching Curtis Hanson's gritty and electrifying 8 Mile, the first thing you notice about Eminem, the most scaldingly powerful artist in pop music today, is how vulnerable he looks.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

The film is never more real than when Jimmy unloads his anger on someone close to him, a frequent occurrence. Eminem is an actor with a rare gift for rage, and movie careers, even big ones, have been built on less.

Time Richard Schickel

There's something old-fashioned and dauntless about the way the film pushes past our initial resistance to its setting and subject matter, past pain, past defeat, to make this point. Because it rejects easy victories, this may be one of the few inspirational movies that could actually inspire someone, somewhere, sometime.

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

What it's really about is the euphoria that talent can bring to those who are possessed by it. That euphoria lights up the screen.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

The film's absolute conviction keeps it from feeling formulaic.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

This is about the rise of a pop star, plain and simple. The real deal –- and the movie's greatest fun –- is in the rap contests.

Variety Todd McCarthy

The rough power, as well as the humor and sensitivity, of pop phenom Eminem is delivered intact in 8 Mile.

LA Weekly John Powers

Eminem plays Rabbit with riveting, flamboyantly expressive intensity.

USA Today Mike Clark

The rap sequences are shot and edited with the excitement of a crisply broadcast sporting event, which in a way they are.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

Some movies, a very few, possess the purity of myth, and they don't have to be great to be greatly important. "The Wild One" is an example; "Saturday Night Fever" is another. Now add 8 Mile to that short list.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

It captures the excitement of a breaking star, it generates a raw and unsettling emotional power and it honors the aesthetic of hip-hop in way that's never quite been done on film before.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Can Eminem act? Who knows? But his star turn in 8 Mile -- is memorable -- even if we've seen it all before.

Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky

The star's the thing, the only thing, and he's brilliant at playing a thinly veiled version of himself.

The New Yorker David Denby

Eminem does not come off as a megalomaniac in 8 Mile, but he expects people to be very, very impressed. I doubt he could lend himself to a fiction that said anything else: his eyes couldn't tell any story but his own. [11 November 2002, p. 195]

Slate David Edelstein

There are a lot of stale -- and nefarious -- clichés in 8 Mile, but most of the time they're overwhelmed by the pulsing, grinding, hopped-up camerawork and the soulful star turn of Eminem.

The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann

Hanson's rendition is so engulfing that, for this middle-class white man at any rate, the moment after the film finished was like a return to familiar country.

Newsweek David Ansen

It’s too early to place Eminem alongside those Hollywood giants (Jimmy Cagney/John Garfield), but the promise is there. He understands the power of being still in front of a camera. Compact, volatile and burningly intense, he’s got charisma to spare.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

The movie has some of the braggadocio of its white-trash hero, building to its competitive climax as if it were a gladiatorial sporting event, and it carried me all the way.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

A hip-hop cousin of Prince's ''Purple Rain,'' which had braver fashion sense and better original songs.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

Flaws and all, it really does show a star being born.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

Basinger gives one of her best performances as a woman too young, poor and overwhelmed to handle motherhood. And the uncommonly self-assured Murphy proves again that she is a cut above other actresses of her tender years.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

As is usually the case with a well made sports movie, you don't have to appreciate the particular sport in order to enjoy the movie. 8 Mile has not been made solely with fans of hip-hop music in mind.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Eminem survives the X-ray truth-telling of the movie camera, which is so good at spotting phonies. He is on the level.

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

What makes 8 Mile transcend the formulaic nature of its plot is the way it makes these rap competitions compelling even for those unfamiliar with rap music, and its scrupulous, loving rendition of a grim, wintry Detroit circa 1995.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

There is some exhilarating wordplay in 8 Mile, and you don't have to be a fan of rap to appreciate its quicksilver energy and mischievous wit. For all its grit, 8 Mile ends up radiating a joyful, hopeful vibe. It's an old-school charmer.

San Francisco Chronicle Jonathan Curiel

A "Rocky"-like tale of determination and long odds that will appeal even to those who are turned off by most rap music.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

The real drama -- and poetry -- in 8 Mile are in those fiery face-offs, the hip-hop battles, as Jimmy rat-tat-tats his rap in deft flashes of spontaneous combustion.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

There's no doubt that Eminem has the talent and presence of a star. It's just a shame that the filmmakers didn't capture his power with mad skillz of their own.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

What Mr. Hanson has done with 8 Mile is make a pop movie instead of a movie about pop. There's nothing disreputable about this.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

Extremely clever in its use of self-deprecation, it's guaranteed to bring down the house at any remotely sympathetic venue.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

While the urban texture and the unapologetic work of Basinger impart a sophisticated air to what is essentially a downtrodden-teen-makes-good film, that is, finally, just what 8 Mile is. That's not a bad thing, but it's nothing to rap home about, either.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

The loosely autobiographical 8 Mile, an uneven but watchable drama about life in Detroit's slums, begins the shrewd transformation of vitriolic rapper Eminem into a mainstream figure.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

A star is born in 8 Mile, all right, but his name is Mekhi Phifer.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

What's most disappointing is the thoroughly cliched story.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

But even a rapper needs to punch things up a bit, and 8 Mile, for all its hip-hop braggadocio, is a pretty weak riff.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Pop-music biopics have a great history, but 8 Mile is for Eminem fans only. They're sure to make it a huge, huge hit.

Film Threat Rick Kisonak

The film has brief flashes of believability and humor. By and large, though, the script is uninspired, the picture's characters are stick figures, its dialogue is lackluster and the star's performance seldom rises above the adequate.