8 Mile

Jimmy 'B-Rabbit' Smith (Eminem) is desperate to be a rapper. It's 1995 Detroit. With the support of his friend David 'Future' Porter (Mekhi Phifer), he aims to overcome his personal problems. His mother Stephanie (Kim Basinger) is a drunk. He leaves his girlfriend Janeane (Taryn Manning) when she tells him that she's pregnant. He chokes on a head-to-head rap battle. He has no place to go but to move back into his mother's trailer. His mom's boyfriend Greg (Michael Shannon) is a jerk. He has a part-time grimy auto parts job and then he meets Alex (Brittany Murphy).

Eminem is basically playing himself and he does a good job. He's surrounded by good actors. The sense of the place is the standout of this movie. The Detroit locations have the proper grittiness. The desperation is palpable. The rap battles are exhilarating. The story is relatively standard with nice touches. This is a matter of the perfect story for the perfect lead. He's not really acting as much as being himself.