8 Mile -- Eminem in Angela's Ashes

I like Eminem. I like his music. I like the way he looks in this movie -- a lot like the Virgin Mary. There's something about his knit cap with the hood covering it that looks as holy as a wimple. His face is angelic in certain shots in this movie. But I didn't like the movie all that much. 8 Mile's plot which felt like a mixture of West Side Story and Angela's Ashes at times, has an around-and-around-and-around hopelessness to it I didn't like. It's an artistic question -- if you want to write a poem about boredom, do you write a boring poem. If you want to write about poverty, do you write a poor narrative structure?

And my biggest gripe ... hello!!!??!! ... was how little MUSIC OR RAP was in the thing. That surprised me and I can't figure how that happened, but even the title song was jammed in at the end of the movie, playing as the credits rolled.

One thing is for sure, Eminem the performer is ready for a much bigger movie. I think he's really good and he needs to be in something else -- a movie where he gets to do more than drive a broken-down car up and down the boulevard.