Comments on: Hustle & Flow (2005)

By: Joe Valdez

Joe Valdez — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 01:37:11 +0000

Chuck: Thanks for articulating the issues some people have with Hustle & Flow and why they don't matter. I find myself responding to movies viscerally and enjoying the filmmaking. Whether it conforms to my own political and intellectual beliefs is too far off my radar to even warrant consideration. Maybe that's naive, but if this movie was misogynist, I seriously doubt Stephanie Allain would have spent four years trying to get it made, or Taraji Henson would have begged to work on it. Verival: While a marketing challenge, Paramount did not do a good job selling audiences on the film at all. "Sundance" is what they pushed, but I think most lovers of indie films took a look at this, saw a pimp and like you, had major reservations. If you're a male picking a date movie you probably also steered clear of this for fear it would provoke the lady. That's too bad because even with some rough edges, this was a real crowd pleasing, entertaining flick. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for commenting!

By: Verival1

Verival1 — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 21:26:00 +0000

The opening lines of Hustle & Flow set the tone for this movie, with Djay’s philosophical statements. His reaction in the scene in the church continued it. It was a story of contrasts. I admit, it took me from it’s release in 2005 until now, 2008, to actually see it because of my assumption that it was misogynistic, and I only watched it because I was interested in the acting skills and talent of Terrence Howard. His filmography is impressive! The film content was a pleasant surprise and I was so impressed that I added it to my collection. I didn’t know Craig Brewer had also done Black Snake Moan, so now I will need to see that (which I have also avoided because of that same assumption of misogyny). Thank you for this review.

By: Chuck

Chuck — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:20:40 +0000

Craig Brewer seems to rub some people, particularly some of the more distinguished critical muckety-mucks, the wrong because of the various racial and social concerns his pictures ignore. That, in and of itself, is not debatable. But I responded strongly to both this and Black Snake Moan because of his embracing of his Southern Gothic-by-way-of-movies imagination. Brewer is clearly making pictures for himself, regardless of responsibility or flattery, and I appreciate that, and I appreciate how he mixes the maudlin with the exploitive and deranged. DJay doesn’t deserve to be the star of a Rocky-musical uplift romantic story, but he is, because his creator wanted him to be.

I do wish that Black Snake had pushed its subversive elements further though, but I love the climax and the cornball delusion of the entire thing.