Rapper's story missing its muse
In Get Rich or Die Tryin', we watch 50 Cent rise from drug dealer to hip-hop star. But motivation - for the character and the movie - seems to be missing.
By PHILIP BOOTH
Published November 9, 2005
So was Jim Sheridan, the Irish director of In the Name of the Father and My Left Foot, seeking youth-culture street cred, or was rap superstar 50 Cent (born Curtis Jackson) hedging his bets by putting his life story (or a facsimile) in the hands of an Oscar-winning filmmaker?
Evidence of both impulses can be found in Get Rich or Die Tryin', an intermittingly compelling inner-city drama that counts as the year's second-best screen account of a talented young rapper's journey from thug life to hip-hop artistry. The first, of course, was festival favorite Hustle and Flow, driven by the charismatic performance of Get Rich co-star Terrence Howard.
Jackson, a talented rhymer and rhythm manipulator whose empire extends to clothing, sneakers and wristwatches, isn't exactly an electrifying screen presence. But he is blessed with an open face, a welcoming smile, a natural swagger and a comfortable relationship with the camera, all of which help his feature-film debut.
Get Rich, written by Sopranos scribe Terence Winter, begins with a blast of violence, as fast-rising crack dealer Marcus (Jackson) and his cohorts bungle a robbery. A flashback relocates the narrative to the '70s: Marcus (Marc John Jefferies), the only child of a loving but irresponsible, dope-dealing single mother (Serena Reeder), creates his own raps inspired by the sounds of N.W.A. and Public Enemy but eventually joins the family business.
His hard-knocks life unreels in a perfunctory manner, as if Sheridan and Winter were faithfully trotting out the most familiar elements of a twice-told tale: Marcus begins to rise in a drug ring managed by a vicious gangster (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) and headed by a mysterious, aging crime boss (Bill Duke), and along the way stumbles into the love of a good woman (Joy Bryant). Jail comes next, then unmarried fatherhood.
Notably absent from the saga are any convincing details of Marcus' relationship with the muse. What, exactly, drives this seemingly closed-off character to put his feelings on public display? Was he "reborn" as an artist following a backstage shootout before his first major concert, as he describes in voiceover, or did that rebirth take place earlier, in prison? Sheridan's film, even at nearly two hours, feels incomplete.
Get Rich or Die Tryin'GRADE: B-
DIRECTOR: Jim Sheridan
CAST: 50 Cent, Terrence Howard, Joy Bryant, Bill Duke, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Omar Benson Miller, Viola Davis, Tory Kittles and Marc John Jefferies
SCREENPLAY: Terence Winter
RATING: R; violence, profanity, nudity, sexual situations
RUNNING TIME: 134 min.