Overall, 8 Mile is a very entertaining movie. Its lead performance is still strong away from Eminem’s initial massive fame.

| May 6, 2023

...a low-key, character-study-like premise thats employed to persistently watchable (and periodically electrifying) effect...

| Original Score: 3/4 | Feb 18, 2022

Flashes of genuine rebellion appear in 8 Mile, but they are few and far between. The film's conclusion is thoroughly conformist and predictable.

| Feb 16, 2021

What (partially) saves this movie is the rap battle...why didn't they give us more rap?

| Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 3, 2018

A lot of the themes and language in the movie haven't aged well...the soundtrack is amazing, though.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 3, 2018

To be admired rather than enjoyed, but a considerable achievement nonetheless.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Sep 14, 2018

Outside the rap slams, either the acting or the persona is a bit joyless.

| Feb 3, 2018

The best review I can give a drama or an actor: When the film ends you still believe the character lives on.

| Original Score: A- | Jan 4, 2018

While not exactly wow, Eminem is solid and credible in a role which could so easily have screeched like chalk across a wet blackboard.

| Jan 2, 2018

A refreshing way to build a story that is ghoulishly overfamiliar in nearly all its particulars.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Jan 2, 2016

It's easy to like Jimmy Smith as well as to admire him, because Mr. Mathers lets us in, with no sign of calculation, on the kindness, even tenderness, that Jimmy conceals from most of the people around him.

Full Review | Apr 7, 2014

In the tradition of Rocky and Fever, the movie is a shrewdly engineered piece of proletarian pop -- a story of triumph -- but, like Eminem's enraged lyrics, 8 Mile has its own kind of vile candor.

| Apr 7, 2014

In addition to showcasing Mathers, 8 Mile makes a case for rap as a creative rebel yell.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 7, 2014

What saves all this from being purely conventional is the filmmaker's keen sense of Rabbit's essential solitude as an artist, even when surrounded by friends.

| Apr 7, 2014

The story of 8 Mile isn't far removed from Eminem's own self-mythologized life -- a Jerry Springer-style saga out of Detroit -- but the unslakable anger is gone.

| Apr 7, 2014

Director Curtis Hanson puts a new spin on the familiar "triumph against the odds" theme with this slick showcase for the talents of superstar rapper Eminem.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 7, 2014

It ain't Eminem: The Movie but it does showcase Eminem: The Actor -- easily the best rapper-cum-thesp since Tupac Shakur.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 7, 2014

8 Mile wins because it doesn't try to impress you with mega-stars and made-up stories. Instead, it tells a simple story of trial, error and triumph.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Apr 7, 2014

Since his ascension to pop-culture royalty, Eminem has transformed the messy emotions of his life into musical black comedy. In 8 Mile, that life becomes an equally riveting drama.

| Apr 7, 2014

Despite the predictable formula, screenwriter Scott Silver wisely avoids taking the easy route every time; there are several small twists you may not expect, and the ending isn't entirely a happy one.

| Apr 7, 2014