Susan Granger’s review of “Hustle & Flow” (Paramount Classics)
After an auspicious debut at the Sundance Film Festival, this indie sensation, written and directed by Craig Brewer, is so filled with obscenities that, inevitably, much of its potential audience will be put off simply by the vulgar, dirty language. In addition, there’s an obviously sexist and misogynist tilt to the acrid material. Consider yourself forewarned. Set in Memphis, the multi-layered story centers on an aging, philosophizing pimp/drug dealer called DJay (Terrence Howard) who decides to go for “easier money” as a hip-hop rapper. Working out of his multicolored Chevy and living in poverty with three hookers just doesn’t cut it anymore. Across town, Key (Anthony Anderson) has a strait-laced wife (Elise Neal) and works as a sound engineer but longs for something more. These high-school buddies reconnect at a convenience store and decide to make “crunk” music together. They just might have a chance to get their demo tape heard when superstar Skinny Black (Ludacris) arrives back in town for a Fourth of July party for which DJay is expected to supply weed. Inevitably, complications arise. What makes it memorable is an audacious, star-making turn by Terrence Howard (“Crash,” “Ray”) and the appearance of Isaac Hayes as a neighborhood bar owner/mentor. But this gritty mid-life crisis story is so seamy and the characters so sullen and sleazy that it doesn’t even measure up to Eminem’s similar “8 Mile.” There’s no way to escape the fact that DJay exploits women, demolishing their self-esteem, no matter how much Craig Brewer tries to convey that the female characters have been “empowered” by the music. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Hustle & Flow” is an abusive, abrasive 5. Howard hustles but the flow just doesn’t go.
