Good story, Not enough for a whole film

As Good As It Gets

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

DJay (Terrence Howard) is a Memphis pimp and a drug dealer with a dream. His hoe Nola (Taryn Manning) is actually more of a friendly co-worker. Shug (Taraji P. Henson) is a pregnant mess. When he buys a kid's keyboard from a street drunk, he renews his music dreams. He bumps into his old schoolmate Key (Anthony Anderson) who with Shelby (DJ Qualls) helps him record his songs. It's a struggle as he hustles for the recordings and the chance to get his music played. He aims to bring his music to successful rapper Skinny Black (Ludacris), but it's a long winding road.This movie has loads of atmosphere due to the gritty Memphis locations. On the surface, it's another blaxsploitation movie about the hustle, rappers, drug deals, pimps and hoes. But it's much more about the downtrodden who still have their own dreams. It takes the stereotypical characters and give them life. Also there's a scattering of white characters here. So it's not a simple movie about pimps and hoes. Then there is also the great music. There is still no other Oscar winning song quite like "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp". The performances are superb especially Terence Howard. Even Anthony Anderson puts in a solid dramatic performance.

Hustle & Flow is a good tale although it's slight Hollywood-ized version of a rags-to-rich story. But that doesn't stop this movie from giving effective performances and a gritty hustle and pimp story. This story is one that the small-town people can relate with and it's well-written one at that. Now, this is not my kind of music but I can still appreciate the way people have come to succeed in this music industry especially when things seem the darkest.Craig Brewer's first feature is about a full-time pimp named Djay. Djay wants to get out of that business and prove to the world he has skills to be a rapper. When his childhood friend, who is a millionaire rapper plans on coming to town, Djay enlists the help of his friends to make sure he can succeed.In 2005, this film as well as Crash put Terrence Howard on the map. He is brilliant as Djay. We can see his earnest passion to become a rapper and he brings much to this role. This character is what brought Terrence Howard to stardom. The supporting cast is decent as well even though some of the female characters are quite annoying.Overall, this is a borderline great film that tells the traditional rag-to-rich tale. This is not my kind of music, but I can appreciate all the hard work these people do. I don't know where this film would be without Terrence. I enjoyed this gritty tale for the most part. I rate this film 8/10.

Hustle & Flow has the perfect balance of. Drama, Music, and performances. I firmly believe without the passionate performances, this movie wouldn't have been as strong as it was. Terrence Howard's character is a tad bit abrasive at times, but his heart of gold, and his never-give up mentality made the character perfect in my opinion. What really made the movie for me was it's realism.. The characters felt real, the situations seemed real, and the ending wasn't all that far-fetched either, and really made me smile. The ending is one of the best things about the movie because it wasn't all that unbelievable. You will hate Skinny for what he does, and it will certainly mess with your emotions. I firmly believe this movie isn't for everyone, due to its violent language and the fact that not everybody is into Rap. But it is worth it in my opinion.Performances. Terrence Howard is Oscar worthy here. It truly was a star-making performance, and I loved everything about his character. Despite some of his abusive and abrasive actions, he remained likable. He was the heart and soul of this film. Anthony Anderson can actually ACT!. I was shocked at his maturity and how good he was here. Taryn Manning is fantastic as the vulnerable, and often overlooked woman. I felt for her on many occasions, and thought she did a great job. DJ Qualls is excellent as well surprisingly. He injected a nice amount of humor into his part. Taraji P. Henson is solid as the love interest. She was likable and never overdid it. Ludicrous played scum perfectly. I couldn't stand him as Skinny.Bottom line. It's powerful, engrossing and a joy to watch. Don't be turned off by it, because of its subject material. Critics were 100% right about this one. A must see.9/10

Hustle and Flow is a very good come-up story of a small town southern pimp slash small time drug dealer D-Jay and the people in his life who help him along the way to realize his goal of making it in the rap game. D-jay is at a mid-life crisis in his life and is looking for a way out and a way up in the rap business. Terreance Howard gives a great performance as D-Jay a very believable character, also giving a good performance is Taryn Manning as Nola, D-Jays main girl in his stable of women. Every one else in the film gives a good performance too even usually over the top character actors DJ Qualls and Anthony Anderson give more realistic performances.Good soundtrack very original. Good directing and writing by Craig Brewer. Even though this film takes place in modern day it has the feel of a 70's blaxploitation soul cinema film, a genre i am a huge fan of. I like this film the most in the recent genre of rap musician life movies that have come out around the same time i.e. Get rich or die trying and 8 Mile. I am not a huge fan of rap music but this film and it's music is very believable and it captures you're attention from the start and holds it until the end, definitely worth the viewing.