Hustle & Flow

R

Released Jul 22, 2005

1 hr. 55 min.

Drama

Music

TRAILER

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List

82%

162 Reviews

Tomatometer

82%

100,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

DJay (Terrence Howard) is a pimp living day to day on the tough streets of Memphis, Tennessee. Pushing 40, he's tired of the life he's living and dreams of something greater. When he meets up with an old friend who is now in the recording industry, he's inspired to turn his life around and uses his criminal life as an inspiration to create rap music. When he hears that a rap superstar is coming to town, Djay works a hustle to gain the rapper's attention and hopefully get signed by a label.

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Critics Consensus

Hustle & Flow is gritty and redemptive, with a profound sense of place and exciting music.

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StephenPaul C

The most music-filled 01 hour: and 55 minutes ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

04/11/23

Full Review

Dominique W

Nearly flawless. The south has something to say.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/21/23

Full Review

Taylor L

Between 2000 and 2010, it seemed like Anthony Anderson was a supporting character in half the comedies in theatres and on daytime TV. Then he slipped into the game show circuit, never to be heard from again ... except for his 11 Primetime Emmy nominations for Black-ish. Still weird that he's totally absent from film though. A cutting look at the American Dream and the few outlets that African-American men feel serve as a potential lifestyle - drugs, pimping, and rap - that gradually expands to incorporate a whole cast of characters that are caught up in the pressure of a working class existent that squeezes them dry. It's a place where dreams are treated as the opium of the masses, a means of keeping people placated so they don't recognize their own self-repression... right up until our main character pistol whips someone famous, rides that infamy to stardom, and virtually everything works out for him, sort of negating the ideas the film drops on you. Terrence Howard's Dee-Jay is no saint, he is supposed to be an empathetic loser but he's a violent pimp and a drug dealer with few redeeming qualities; somehow all the women in his life have Stockholm Syndrome and treat him like a brow-beaten provider when he's the root of all their problems. There's not really any clever dialogue built up around how Dee-Jay finds success despite, or perhaps because, he's a terrible person, it's just treated as a rags to riches story struggling against adversity. It plays heavily into stereotypes and only serves to reinforce the simplistic appeal of exploitation films of prior years. Ignoring the cardinal direction that the film goes in, Hustle & Flow is actually a really good depiction of the creative process. The characters really feel like they have this chip on their shoulder as they meet in a back room studio with walls covered in cupholders as makeshift soundproofing. The music itself (including the main single by Three 6 Mafia, which won the Oscar for Best Original Song) is catchy, and the film dives deep into its Memphis identity. The story ends up being surprisingly cutting, particularly the back-and-forth between Dee-Jay and Ludacris's Skinny Black that builds up this connection, giving glimpses of a name up in lights before cutting the legs right out from under you. If the movie ends about there, Hustle & Flow is a tough look at personal identity and misplaced hope, sort of a Death of a Salesman for a hip hop era. But when everything comes back around in Dee-Jay's favor, all that ends up pretty much pointless. Be a pimp, make a demo, punch a guy, get famous. Terrence Howard got a Best Actor Oscar nom out of this movie, though apparently he's still having a tough time getting people to accept Terryology and its central belief that 1x1=2. But as Dee-Jay reminded us, "everybody's gotta have a dream". (2.5/5)

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/10/23

Full Review

Thomas M

The best acting performance from Terrence Howard!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

11/26/22

Full Review

georgan g

Terrific music and acting. The plot line is believable and heart warming to have a hopeful ending. This is one of my favorite movies!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The greatest 01 hour: and 55 minutes ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/11/23

Full Review

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Craig Brewer

Director

Terrence Howard

Djay

Anthony Anderson

Key

Taryn Manning

Nola

Taraji P. Henson

Shug

Paula Jai Parker

Lexus

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Hustle & Flow: Official Clip - What Do You Want?

2:03

Hustle & Flow: Official Clip - Standing Up To Skinny

2:09

Hustle & Flow: Official Clip - On the Radio

1:31

Hustle & Flow: Official Clip - A Mix Tape for Skinny

2:11

Hustle & Flow: Official Clip - Shake It Real Fast

2:13

Hustle & Flow: Official Clip - Man Ain't Like a Dog

1:54

Hustle & Flow: Official Clip - Whoop That Trick

2:13

Hustle & Flow: Official Clip - Hard Out Here for a Pimp

2:13

Hustle & Flow: Official Clip - Spiritual Experience

2:13

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Hustle & Flow: Trailer 1

2:24

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Wilson Morales

indieWire

Hustle & Flow certainly is among the emotional, uplifting feel good films that folks love to watch more than once.

Mar 31, 2020

Full Review

Heather Havrilesky

Salon.com

Hustle & Flow is everything you want a film to be: unpredictable, daring, clever, heartwarming.

Jul 16, 2019

Full Review

David Ansen

Newsweek

Howard redeems this lumpy fantasy. Soft-spoken and mysterious, he presides over the movie with a dangerous, feline grace.

Nov 1, 2007

Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

This picture takes few false steps as it details the efforts of all its characters (not just DJay) to find some purpose in their lives.

Rated: 3/4

Sep 8, 2023

Full Review

Justin Brown

Medium Popcorn

This is a two hour movie that flew by. It was fun in some aspects, the music was tight and just clicked well.

Rated: 3/5

Apr 22, 2021

Full Review

Brandon Collins

Medium Popcorn

I really liked the performances. It was dope that everyone gave it 110% for this.

Rated: 3/5

Apr 22, 2021

Full Review

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Synopsis

DJay (Terrence Howard) is a pimp living day to day on the tough streets of Memphis, Tennessee. Pushing 40, he's tired of the life he's living and dreams of something greater. When he meets up with an old friend who is now in the recording industry, he's inspired to turn his life around and uses his criminal life as an inspiration to create rap music. When he hears that a rap superstar is coming to town, Djay works a hustle to gain the rapper's attention and hopefully get signed by a label.

Director: Craig Brewer
Executive Producer: Dwight Williams
Screenwriter: Craig Brewer
Distributor: MTV Productions
Production Co: Paramount, New Deal Productions, Crunk Pictures, Homegrown Pictures
Rating: R (Sex and Drug Content|Pervasive Language|Some Violence)
Genre: Drama, Music
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jul 22, 2005, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 1, 2013
Box Office (Gross USA): $22.2M
Sound Mix: Dolby SRD, DTS, SDDS
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

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