Eminem basically plays himself in film ‘8 Mile’

Published 7:51 am Thursday, November 14, 2002

“8 Mile” is one of the movies whose content roughly matches the image of the music-artist star, in this case Eminem.

Inspired by the rapper’s life in the worst parts of Detroit around the historic 8 Mile road, the story is about Jimmy Smith, or “Rabbit.”

A young man in the slums of Detroit, Rabbit is a poor, unskilled worker with a hard life. He loses jobs and girlfriends. He is forced to live with his mother, played by Kim Basinger, who lives in a trailer with a man barely older than her son. Rabbit and his friends have dreams of making it big through their rapping ability.

Battles of rhyming verbal slams are held weekly in a hangout called the Shelter. The best way to get noticed is to win the rapping tournaments held there. Rabbit’s friends believe he has a great talent that outmatches most competitors.

After freezing in front a crowd once, he decides not to battle again until the climax of the film, when he returns to the Shelter to prove his ability.

“8 Mile’s” harsh language goes hand-in-hand with its even harsher setting. Sickly realistic, parts of the film are more depressing and dark than entertaining.

For a major film debut, Eminem does a good job acting, although the movie is roughly inspired by his life and in interviews he said he basically played himself. You wonder if he has good acting ability or can just portray a fictional character very similar to himself very well. “8 Mile” is really just about an inner-city guy trying to survive and not a controversial rapper. It does a good job holding the interest level.

Fans of Eminem’s music will probably greatly enjoy the story. People who don’t like Eminem and can’t stand the sadly realistic bombarding immoral elements that control the movie will absolutely hate it.