Well, there’s very little to be beloved of in this film. DJ Qualls is always funny, no matter where he is, but he’s also out of place, being the innocent dude thrust in the middle of pimps and ho's.

      It’s odd to see Anthony Anderson in a serious role, and he plays it somewhat well, but you just can’t take Kangaroo Jack man seriously, no matter what he does now.

      The music is good for rap, even if the lyrics are absolute crap.

      Other than that, not much.

First off, this movie copies a bunch of other movies, on a base level. 8 Mile. The campy blaxploitation of the credits. The “ghetto boy makes good” story.

      Problem being, though the furniture in the house of the pimp is ghetto, pretty much everything else about the dude isn’t, from his look to his attitude. Maybe that’s a point the filmmaker is trying to make, but hell, I live in a pseudo-ghetto area (ghetto as an adjective, not a noun, of extreme note), and I see people like the people this movie is trying to portray all day every day, and honestly, this is an unrealistic portrayal as I’ve experienced it.

      There’s also the fact that at the core, this damned movie is trying to say that it’s okay to beat women, kick out your wife and kids, smack around someone who’s trying to help you, objectify women for profit while stealing from them, write music GLORIFYING this ass-holery, and then become rich and famous for it.

      Which is, quite obviously, retarded.

      Now, I could be totally missing the boat. They could have been playing all of this for laughs, and I might have missed it. If so, apologies, but given the marketing, given the aura of the film, I highly doubt the aim was humor. And if so, it wasn’t made clear, at all.

      Is this a satire of that behavior? If so, it’s not sharp, or shown.

      Is this a condemnation of suck behavior? If so, it’s not poignant, or shown.

      All in all, good camera work. Good acting. Abysmal concept for a script and a waste of my time. Who gives a shit what assholes do to try and make their lives more comfortable? Seriously? I much prefer 8 Mile, because while I disagree with a lot of Eminem’s ideas, and while I don’t see the plight of the white boy rapper, at least he’s making an attempt to make his life better instead of expecting his life to get better for him just because he’s a mythic “playa.”

      None of the characters, and I mean NONE, learn a lesson, are redeemed, or really, are very likeable. Even though the white gal, in the end, takes charge of her life, she’s still just a ho in the end, only for records, not her body.

      It’s kind of a frustrating film, not because you don’t LIKE it, but because you can picture asinine people watching it and treating it like a kind of anthem for pulling themselves out of stations that they’ve designed for themselves. In other words, keep drinking the beer, buddy, because it doesn’t matter how depraved and stupid you are, you’re one chance encounter from becoming a TRUE pimp.

Watch it. It’s worth the discussion it spurs alone. Enjoy it? Not so much.

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