8 MILE

A young rapper (Eminem) in Detroit struggles with his anger through music. Can a white kid with a blue vocabulary and lots of hate in his heart transcend his meager beginnings and attain global superdupermegastar success?

A rap version of "Saturday Night Fever." B-Rabbit, a wannabe rapper from the wrong side of Detroit's 8 Mile, has problems: he dumps his girlfriend when she tells him she's pregnant; to save money to make a demo tape, he moves into his alcoholic mom's trailer; his job's a dead end, and he's just choked at the local head-to-head rap contest. Things improve when he meets Alex - an aspiring model headed for New York - and a fast-talking pal promises to set up the demo. Then new setbacks: Alex isn't faithful, mom rejects him, rifts surface with his friends, and he's mugged by rivals. Everything hinges on the next rap showdown at the club. Can B-Rabbit pull truth out of his cap?

The people of Detroit know 8 Mile as the city limit, a border, a boundary. It is also a psychological dividing line that separates Jimmy Smith Jr. (Eminem) from where and who he wants to be. 8 Mile is a provocative fictional examination of a critical week in Jimmy's life, starring multi-platinum recording artist Eminem in his first leading role in a feature film, along with Kim Basinger as Jimmy's mother, Mekhi Phifer, Brittany Murphy and Eugene Byrd.