8 Mile

Theatrical Release Date: 2002 11 08 (USA)

UPC: 025192128530

Studio: Universal

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Violence, Adult Situations, Strong Sexual Content, Not For Children, Profanity, Drug Content]

Summary: Controversial rap star Eminem makes his acting debut in this hard-edged urban drama, inspired in part by incidents from the musician's own life. Jimmy Smith (Eminem), known to his friends as Rabbit, is a young man trying to make his way out of the burned-out shell of inner-city Detroit. Rabbit's entire life has been a hard climb, and it certainly hasn't gotten any easier lately; Rabbit has just been dumped by his girlfriend, forcing him to move back in with his emotionally unstable mother, Stephanie (Kim Basinger), and he's getting along especially poorly with Stephanie's new boyfriend. Rabbit has a factory job that's tough, demeaning, and doesn't pay especially well, and he's convinced his skills as a rapper are his only real hope at a better life. Rabbit makes music with a crew of DJ's and MC's who call themselves Three One Third, among them his close friend Future (Mekhi Phifer), but his status as a white kid making music in a predominantly African-American community and culture is extremely intimidating, and after Rabbit freezes up in the midst of an MC battle, he's convinced he's missed his chance and that he's doomed to lead a marginal life as a factory rat for the rest of his days. With the help of his friends, and his new girlfriend Alex (Brittany Murphy), Rabbit struggles to work up the courage and the confidence to take one more shot at making his dream a reality. 8 Mile was shot on location in Detroit; the name refers to 8 Mile Road, a thoroughfare along the city's perimeter which effectively separates the middle-class suburban neighborhoods from the lower-class inner-city. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Category: Drama

Awards: Best Song – Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Original Song – null Best Song – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Song – Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Song – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Song – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Original Song – Hollywood Foreign Press Association

Features: The making of 8 Mile
Exclusive rap battles
"Superman" music video

8 Mile

Format: Blu-ray

Release Date: 01/10/2012

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Cinemascope

Audio: DD2 Dolby Digital Stereo, DHMA null, DTS Digital Theater Systems, DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1

Runtime: 111 Minutes

Sides: 2

Number of Discs: 2

Language(s) English,Spanish,French

Subtitles: French,Spanish

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Disc #1 -- 8 Mile
1. Preparing for Battle (Main Titles) [:46]
2. The Shelter [2:11]
3. 8 Mile Road [:14]
4. The Franchise [1:57]
5. Sweet Home Alabama [:09]
6. Saturday Night in the D [:26]
7. The Chin Tiki [:56]
8. Alex [:51]
9. Burn it Down [2:34]
10. I Got Your Back [4:43]
11. The Lunchtruck [2:11]
12. This Ain't My Home [1:15]
13. Eviction Situation [1:33]
14. Domestic Disturbance [3:37]
15. WJLB (313 Baby, Love) [:01]
16. Papa Doc Payback [2:01]
17. The Cripple Convention [1:38]
18. Rabbit Finds His Voice [:10]
19. Final Face-Off [:13]
20. Where We Goin' [:33]
21. Lose Yourself (End Titles) [1:15]

Michael Hastings

The hip-hop generation gets its Saturday Night Fever with 8 Mile, director Curtis Hanson's searing, grimy look at the world of freestyle rap in mid-'90s Detroit and its most notorious progeny, Eminem -- or, more specifically, a rapper nicknamed Rabbit who happens to bear an uncanny similarity to the controversial superstar. The film seems tailor-made to deflect criticism of the media-hungry artist: The man otherwise known as Marshall Mathers is portrayed as a hard worker, doting big brother, and even friend to ostracized gay co-workers. And yet 8 Mile is no puff piece. Eminem's character is also hotheaded, insular, and, with his gray skull cap and headphones perpetually glued to his head, more than a little nerdy. Hanson and writer Scott Silver have managed to create such a vivid milieu, time period, and bank of supporting characters, a first-time actor can't help but succeed, and Eminem acquits himself well -- there isn't a moment when he's grandstanding or playing to the camera. Predictably, the women who orbit Rabbit's life -- including a defiantly cast but strangely appropriate Kim Basinger and an irresistibly tarty Brittany Murphy -- don't fare as well in the scheme of the plot, but they're at least understandably, three-dimensionally pathetic and/or two-timing. Tying it all together are the thrilling, incendiary freestyle scenes, which dovetail perfectly with the drama and underline the pitch-black insult humor that provides the burgeoning rapper -- and seemingly, just about everyone else in Detroit -- with his only real release. After its world premiere at the 2002 Toronto Film Festival, 8 Mile broke box-office records in the US when it garnered the second-largest opening ever for a drama. ~ Michael Hastings, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Brandon T. Jackson  Actor 
Jennifer Kitchen  Actor 
Proof  Actor 
Brian Grazer  Producer 
Curtis Hanson  Director 
Curtis Hanson  Producer 
Gregory Goodman  Executive Producer 
Scott Silver  Screenwriter 
James Whitaker  Executive Producer 
Carol Fenelon  Executive Producer 
Eminem  Composer (Music Score) 
Jimmy Iovine  Producer 
Paul Rosenberg  Executive Producer 
Eminem  Actor 
Kim Basinger  Actor 
Brittany Murphy  Actor 
Mekhi Phifer  Actor 
Evan Jones  Actor 
Omar Benson Miller  Actor 
Eugene Byrd  Actor 
De'Angelo Wilson  Actor 
Anthony Mackie  Actor 
Taryn Manning  Actor 
Michael Shannon  Actor 
Chloe Greenfield  Actor 
Craig Chandler  Actor 
Paul Bates  Actor 

Country: USA