Hustle and Flow (2005)

Slap that trick! (Get 'em!)....er, well, if you saw this film about a low-rent hustler (played beautifully by Terrance Howard) you'd probably get such an unlikely hook stuck in your head as well.  Tananarive and Nicki went to go see it, and came back humming and tapping and raving. The hit of Sundance, the tale o fa Memphis pimp (who works out of his car.  Jeeze, not exactly "Player's Ball" potential here, with big dreams, is a winner.  The core of it isn' the rap score (which smokes) or the performances per se (impeccable) but the depiction of family, in several different forms, healthy and toxic as hell.  To see that DJay and his "girls" have createdwhat is, in all probability, the healthiest family any of them have ever known, is terrifying, heart-breaking and convencing.  The movie has heart...you really bleed for these losers, and despite their massive flaws, dream along with them.  You know, it's hard out there for a pimp...oops, another musical flashback.  Not exactly Astair and Rogers, but then again, they were never Hustle and Flow.  A-.