Movie Review: Hustle and Flow

As I was buying tickets for the weekend opening of Hustle and Flow, an elderly couple were debating an alternate choice to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory that wasn't starting until much later.  The wife asked me what Hustle and Flow was about, and I said "A pimp who wants to be a rapper."  She made a tiny moué with her mouth and turned away from me.  They wound up getting tickets for The Wedding Crashers, but they might have liked Hustle and Flow, who knows.  To quote from the movie "Everybody got to have a dream,"...even ole peeps.

Set in the wrong end of Memphis, this movie has that same plucky American spirit as Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland movies.  True it's about a pimp and his ho's, but he's got hope and a dream, and he knows he can express it through music and succeed, if only he can connect.  To that end, DJay, played by Terrence Dashon Howard (that I last saw in Crash), seeks to find the right source to promote himself.  As he puts it, if he can pimp a whore into another man's car, he can pimp his music into the right hands.  Howard continues to amaze with his range, and he has a strong ensemble of supporting cast, including Ludacris (who also was in Crash with him) as well as local girl Taraji Henson (as Shug) who gives a stunning performance as Djay's pregnant prostitute/bottom woman.  It's Shug who lays down the "hook" for Djay's song, and to see the emotions play across Henson's face as she realizes her value and what she's accomplished is some top notch acting on her part.

I was hoping for a more interactive Saturday night crowd, since the theatre was packed, but it was not to be.  I couldn't help but remember the crowds at the midnight shows at the Ontario Theatre in Adams Morgan where the audience would be yelling at the action on the screen, rolling beer cans down the aisle and impromptu break dancing demonstrations between films.  Too bad I didn't run into the older couple when I left the theatre, so I could have told them how much I enjoyed it and how many true notes it sounded about life.  To quote from the film again, "Is a pig's pussy pork?"