Someone enjoyed them a blaxploitation movie or two back in the day and not only enjoyed them but tried to emulate them if Hustle and Flow is any indication. Hustle and Flow, in my opinion, is Craig Brewer’s homage to those hit but stereotypical 70s movies and also a great homage to the south and southern hip hop.
Pimping ain’t easy and no one exemplifies it better than DJay (Terrance Howard), a middle-aged pimp who realizes the window is closing fast if he plans to do anything with his life other than be a twenty dollar pimp and a two bit pimp swindler. After learning that a local artist has become a huge hip hop star, Skinny Black (Ludacris), is coming back to town on the 4th of July and after a chance meeting with an old school friend, Key (Anthony Anderson). ), which records church and school board music. meetings for a living, DJay decides his ticket out will be the music he always loved but never pursued. With the help of Shelby (DJ Qualls), a hip-hop-loving, weed-smoking, white boy and aspiring producer; his “snow bunny” hooker Nola (Taryn Manning) as his main investor and his “hooker with a heart of gold” girlfriend Shug (Taraji P. Henson) as moral support, he sets out to do the impossible: create a demo, take her to Skinny Black and eat your way to becoming the next big thing to emerge from the famous Memphis hip hop scene.
Of course, there are major dips along the way, from a very angry wife who doesn’t understand why her God-fearing husband wants to spend all his time with pimps and whores, to microphones that don’t work and questions about where. the money will come to get the ones that will. In general, however, Hustle and Flow is a story of people who want more out of life than the hand they were dealt or, through poor decision making, the hand they were dealt themselves. It’s a movie about taking a leap of faith, even if the world tells you you can’t, about not just dreaming the impossible dream but doing everything you can to make it come true.
Brewer does an excellent job of making you not only sympathize with these characters, but also sympathize with them. Everyone is trying to do more than “…just pay the rent…” a sentiment many people can relate to as well. And even though he sells meat for a living, DJay is a nice guy and you can feel the desire in him to want more, to do better with his life. He would never have cast pretty boy Terrance Howard in this tough, bottom-of-the-food-chain, pimp role, but his performance lives up to all expectations, and he deserves all the praise this movie can garner.
However, there are some issues with Hustle and Flow. For starters, the 116-minute runtime is about half an hour. The movie could have been cut down a bit and not much would have been lost. Second, the ending, while entertaining, is a bit over the top. It’s a bit of fantasy in a realistic piece and ultimately, while I enjoyed the movie, I’d really like to see a noir movie that doesn’t involve pimps, hustlers, whores, and even hip hop as central themes. These are stereotypes that I play off of and I would like to see more films that represent the diverse nature of the black diaspora.
All things considered, Flow is worth your time and money. It stands apart from much of the other summer offerings and is definitely not a movie for everyone, but it is perfect for its intended audience and maybe a few brave souls looking for something different.