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Hustle & Flow

Hustle & Flow

Crime · Drama · Music · 2005

With help from his friends, a Memphis pimp in a mid-life crisis attempts to become a successful hip-hop emcee.

Movie details

Hustle & Flow

“Everybody gotta have a dream.”

2005 Crime · Drama · Music 1h 56m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

7.2 / 10

Community rating

With help from his friends, a Memphis pimp in a mid-life crisis attempts to become a successful hip-hop emcee.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Hustle & Flow?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

Notorious

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The Doors

The Doors

Music · 1991

The story of the famous and influential 1960s rock band and its lead singer and composer, Jim Morrison.

Performance.

Performance.

Crime · 1970

In underworld terms, Chas Devlin is a 'performer,' a gangster with a talent for violence and intimidation. Turner is a reclusive rock superstar. When Chas and Turner meet, their worlds collide—and the impact is both exotic and explosive.

Gotti

Gotti

Crime · 1996

John Gotti, the head of a small New York mafia crew breaks a few of the old family rules. He rises to become the head of the Gambino family and the most well-known mafia boss in America. Life is good, but suspicion creeps in, and greed, rule-breaking and his high public profile all threaten to topple him.

Midnight Express

Midnight Express

Drama · 1978

Billy Hayes is caught attempting to smuggle drugs out of a country. The courts decide to make an example of him, sentencing him to more than 30 years in prison. Hayes has two opportunities for release: the appeals made by his lawyer, his family, and the American government, or the "Midnight Express".

Ill Manors

Ill Manors

Crime · 2012

Ensemble film revolving around characters living in Forest Gate, London. Over the course of a few days, six inter-linking stories explore issues of drug use, prostitution and urban poverty.

Once Upon a Time in America

Once Upon a Time in America

Drama · 1984

A former Prohibition-era Jewish gangster returns to the Lower East Side of Manhattan over thirty years later, where he once again must confront the ghosts and regrets of his old life.

The Krays

The Krays

Drama · 1990

Twins Ronnie and Reggie Kray are raised in east London, under the influence of their hateful but doting mother Violet. As they grow up, Ronnie's violent nature takes over, and Reggie follows his brother's lead. The two become notorious crime lords who rule over the East End club scene. But at the height of their power, the brothers veer into different lives, giving the older crime bosses a chance to reclaim what the Krays took from them.

Requiem for a Dream

Requiem for a Dream

Crime · 2000

The drug-induced utopias of four Coney Island residents are shattered when their addictions run deep.

Taxi Driver

Taxi Driver

Crime · 1976

Suffering from insomnia, disturbed loner Travis Bickle takes a job as a New York City cabbie, haunting the streets nightly, growing increasingly detached from reality as he dreams of cleaning up the filthy city.

Where it lives

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Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.

Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Craig Brewer

Written by

Craig Brewer

Terrence Howard

Terrence Howard

Djay

Anthony Anderson

Anthony Anderson

Key

Taryn Manning

Taryn Manning

Nola

Taraji P. Henson

Taraji P. Henson

Shug

DJ Qualls

DJ Qualls

Shelby

Ludacris

Ludacris

Skinny Black

Paula Jai Parker

Paula Jai Parker

Lexus

Court is in session

Put Hustle & Flow on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Form is the argument.”

Every composed frame and deliberate cut is evidence that control can be thrilling in its own right.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Technique in search of a pulse.”

Immaculate construction is still construction. The film may be too busy proving its craft to feel alive.