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Hustle & Flow (2005)
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Movie Review by Zara 
January 25th, 2007
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It must be the blue eyes
Honestly, how else would an actor be able to get you to like a pimp so damn much? Not that he's a successful pimp. Running a small group of women, one of which has a small child, one of which is out of commission due to a pregnancy and one of which is an empty-headed little white girl who brings home most of the bacon, Terrance Howard somehow makes you actually like the fact that he's using all of these women.
After bumping into an old friend and going to watch him at work as a recording producer, taping a performance at a church, Howard suddenly gets the idea that he'd like to get out of his situation by getting into music. He scrapes together some money and equipment and jots down some catchy lines. With the help of his friend and a talented and interestingly hip white guy, they are able to record the music that is supposed to lift the little family out of the depair that they're in.
Much of the movie is on Howard's shoulders, but without the heart-wrenching performance by Taraji P Henson, you'd only have one side of the story. As the pregnant Shug, doting on her pimp and helping to raise the child of one of the other women in the house, her pain is palpable when that child is kicked out of the home. The look on her face when she first hears her voice coming through in the headphones as she listens to the song finished recording is the look of a person who as found hope in the darkest of places. It is a seamless performance where you forget that this is a normally beautiful woman who is acting.
Even Taryn Manning as the blonde bimbo hooker earns your respect in the end. Granted, this is not a movie for everyone based on its subject matter, but for the performances alone, it is a memorable and classic study in human character.
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