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

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

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

Because it rejects easy victories, this may be one of the few inspirational movies that could actually inspire someone, somewhere, sometime.

| Apr 7, 2014

The movie has some of the braggadocio of its white-trash hero, building to its competitive climax as if it were a gladiatorial sporting event, and it carried me all the way.

| Nov 15, 2011

Eminem's edgy, graphic quasi-biopic is not for kids.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 26, 2010

At its best, 8 Mile illuminates the culture out of which rap springs, at once an art form, provocation and survival mechanism.

| Nov 1, 2007

A hesitant presence whose vulnerability pulls you in, Eminem emerges as a mainstream movie star and effectively lays to rest the spooks of Slim Shady: impressionable parents will love this eminently responsible film.

| Jan 26, 2006

Following L.A. Confidential and Wonder Boys, this makes a remarkable hat-trick for Hanson and is a personal triumph for Eminem.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 1, 2003

If not strictly autobiography, the movie is close enough to Eminem's story that he knows how this character feels. If this turns out to be the only role he ever plays -- which I doubt -- he can be happy that he played it to the limit.

| Mar 7, 2003

8 Mile may have corniness in its bones, but there are ambiguities enough here for a whole other movie.

| Feb 4, 2003

The problem is Eminem himself, who has clearly been drilled by the director to play to what will have to pass as strengths: stillness, cool, control.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jan 20, 2003

Who could have predicted that a rap movie starring Eminem would, at its best, be one of the year's sweetest joyrides?

Full Review | Jan 16, 2003

The story is all right: The picture's real excellence is its portrait of the society in which it takes place.

| Dec 2, 2002

A solidly built, rather old-fashioned yarn about a plucky underdog who triumphs in the face of adversity.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 26, 2002

I have to go back to James Dean in Elia Kazan's East of Eden and Nicholas Ray's Rebel Without a Cause in 1955 to find a comparably jolting piece of male aggressiveness coupled with bottled-up vulnerability.

| Nov 22, 2002

8 Mile probably won't win converts to rap, but it should thrill Eminem fans, so thumbs up.

Full Review | Nov 11, 2002