The other day, I was having sodas with this kid David, El Estacion, and his gaggle of various ethnic bitches, and everyone kept going on and on about this movie, Hustle and Flow. I figured I would see it at some point in time anyway just because it's impossible for me to avoid anything having to do with either rap music or MTV, try as I might, but I wasn't too enthusiastic about it, since I was getting sick and tired of seeing ads for that shit on MTV. Also, the buzz I was hearing about the film in The Paper and on the Internets was actually pretty mixed. But my weekend enablers were like, "No dude, you gotta see it," so finally I was like, fine, and went and caught an afternoon showing of the thing.
Hustle and Flow stars Terrence Howard, from several black films and TV shows I've never seen, as a low-ball pimp and weed dealer named DJay who tries to break into hip-hop. Anthony Anderson, that skinny cracka-ass cracka from Road Trip, two black chicks and a pretty dang hot white chick are also featured in the film. Overall, I thought it was a reasonably solid piece of work with an actually pretty satisfying ending, but there were a lot of little things about it that bothered me while I was sitting there watching it and even more so after I got home and had a little while to go over it in my mind.
First of all, Terrence Howard in this movie is a fake-ass pimp. Who ever heard of a pimp that didn't have to put his shoe on a woman every now and again? Hell, if I was a pimp, I would slap my bitches up at least once a day just because I could get away with it. At one point in this movie, on of his hoes practically begs him to lay the smackdown, and it looks like he might, but then he doesn't, just like a little bitch. It can only be assumed that he would have in real life and he didn't in the film only for business purposes.
Also, why weren't any of his bitches on crack? I mean, I do kind of recall the hot, white one snorting some heroin or some such just to get her in the mood to suck guys off, but honestly, when's the last time you saw a heroin fiend that looked that good? I don't even know any healthy white bitches who look that good. Also, wouldn't H have been a bit ritzy for a pimp of his status? And it would've been a nice artistic touch to have the pregnant ho smoke crack, since it can be proven by taking a trip to any "urban" grocery store that basically all black children these days are born with a little crack in their system, but I guess that just would've been too realistic.
When you take all of these factors into accout, it's hard for me to feel sorry for the fact that this film isn't performing anywhere close to MTVs expectations. Like I said, I enjoyed it on a certain level and I'd recommend at least checking it out when it comes out on DVD (which was like two weeks ago depending on where you live), but it's compromised to the point where I really can't give it my full recommendation.
Addendum: I was reminded by The Station that, while DJay never did lay the smackdown on that one bitch, he did end up kicking both her and her baby out on the street, which was indeed pretty damn gully. I know I was actually worried for a bit that he was going to kick her out and keep that damn baby, so seeing it get tossed out the front door like that was a definite highlight.
