Directed by Jim Sheridan

Paramount Pictures

2 stars



Sitting in the theater with my hood up and the Gs on my G Unit sneakers still spinning, I was prepared to enjoy the best film of the year. “Get Rich or Die Tryin’,” 50 Cent’s semi-autobiographical tale of rags-to-rap-stardom, promised everything that I look for in a film: drug-dealing, thugged-out raptors (rapper/actor), and a banging hip-hop soundtrack.

Unfortunately, the film tells the same story we’ve heard hundreds of times in a manner suggesting that even 50 is bored.

Disregarding the fact that “Get Rich” is a Shady/Aftermath production and Marcus (50 Cent) rolls with the same fat dude (Omar Miller) that B. Rabbit runs with in “8 Mile,” comparisons to Eminem’s silver screen debut are still inevitable. The pitch is simple: Take one of the world’s most famous rappers and make a movie about his Horatio Algiers-like ascent from the gutter to the limelight. Easy, right?

But unfortunately, “Get Rich” strays from the “8 Mile” formula and finds itself caught between a “drug movie” and a “rap movie” without really committing to either. Along with overcoming prejudice and juicing Brittany Murphy in a factory, “8 Mile” is about battle rapping, a world that had never before been explored in a Hollywood film. “Get Rich,” on the other hand, is another story about hustling out of the hood through the coke game. It’s “Belly” without the alluring music-video gloss and “Paid In Full” without the realness.

The problem with 50’s character Marcus is the same problem I’m starting to see in 50 himself: he doesn’t add up. His grimy, nihilistic gangsta posturing does not match up with his lack of intensity, and his “me against the world” attitude is so inexplicable that it undermines any possibility of creating a sympathetic character.

Despite the fact that Marcus leaves the drug life to make a new start in the rap world, he shows absolutely no remorse for his lifestyle. In one scene he essentially tells his grandfather—the same man who selflessly took him in after his mother died—to F-off when he questions his choices: “I’m a gangsta, grandpa, and I’m proud of it!”

This refrain—“I’m a gangsta!”—crops up throughout the movie and is always accompanied by 50’s signature laugh, as if he himself realizes how ridiculous it sounds.

In the end, 50 is not as charismatic or talented a rapper as Eminem, which deflates the aspiring rapper storyline. He delivers lines with almost laughable disinterest (though it’s not quite funny), and the scenes of Marcus writing rhymes or spitting a cappella verses lack the passion of Eminem’s manic scribbling or his showdowns with the Free World. With 50’s lazy slur and strangely sensual voice, he sounds pretty weak before hot production pumps up his sound.

Furthermore, his insatiable need to flood the rap market with “G-G-G-G-Unit!” music clearly influenced his decision to weave the film soundtrack into the plot. Showing him writing these songs—which are, overall, pretty terrible—turns out to be a huge mistake. “Get Rich or Die Tryin’” should chronicle the making of the eponymous album—50’s breakout opus—if it insists on being so autobiographical and depicting a rapper who actually still has some hunger in his rhymes.

Despite a few passable performances, most notably from “Hustle & Flow’s” Terrence Howard as a somewhat unhinged Southerner, “Get Rich” fails to maintain the myth of 50 Cent. The only rap performance, rather than being a climactic moment, is relegated to the closing credits and the Christ-like imagery of 50’s on-stage disrobing is simply uncomfortable, not divinely inspired.

Ultimately, the package is more important than the product, disappointing 50 fans and giving “G-Unit” detractors plenty of ammo to send back at the bullet-ridden icon.

—Staff writer Chris Schonberger can be reached at schonber@fas.harvard.edu.