Ever since it netted the Audience Award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, there’s been plenty of anticipatory buzz surrounding the theatrical release of newcomer Craig Brewer’s rappin’ “Rocky” saga, “Hustle & Flow.” Now that it’s finally here, moviegoers would do well to head to the theaters to see and hear what the well-deserved hype’s all about. Though built upon a cliché — that of the triumphant million-to-one shot — “Flow” is as fresh and exciting a film as you’re likely to see this year. Brewer sticks to the basic recipe for a good old-fashioned redemptive tale, but is smart enough to avoid bathetic conventions that usually do in movies of this ilk, imbuing his story with several unexpected twists. He added an original “crunk” soundtrack (“crunk” is a subdivision of southern hip-hop), set it in the authentically downtrodden streets of Memphis, and brought in actors who were up to the considerable challenge of transforming a group of societal pariahs into working-class heroes.
Many a chart-topping rapper lyrically boasts of being a drug-pushing pimp, but DJay (Terrence Howard in a star-making turn) walks the walk, hawking weed and women to low-rent consumers out of the back of a beat-up Chevy. He lives with his three working girls, played with total conviction by Taraji P. Henson, Taryn Manning and Elise Neal, listlessly managing their “careers” while bemoaning his own unrealized dreams. Then comes his date with destiny, beginning with a chance encounter with a high school acquaintance named Key (Anthony Anderson), a sound engineer who’s enjoyed modest success producing gospel singers. After DJay is enlisted by a local bar owner to supply illegal party favors for a bash being thrown by homegrown platinum-selling rapper Skinny Black (Chris “Ludacris” Bridges), he convinces Key to help him cut a demo with designs on slipping it to Skinny. To that end, he gets additional help from the unlikeliest of sources, including a skinny white deejay (DJ Qualls) and a pregnant hooker (Henson) with a golden set of pipes. Certainly there’s more hype in store for “Hustle & Flow” — the kind reserved for Oscar contenders. (Rated R for sex and drug content, pervasive language and some violence. Running time: 114 minutes)
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 22, 2005. Read the original PDF.