| | | Academy Award Winner!
Features: English, French, Spanish
Producer John Singleton and award-winning director Craig Brewer bring to life the unforgettable tale of DJay (Terrence Howard), a pimp whose gritty hustle selling sexy Nola (Taryn Manning) and supporting pregnant Shug (Taraji Henson) leaves him wondering if this is it for him. Only when he trades contraband for a keyboard and bumps into his old school friend Key (Anthony Anderson) does he see a way out by laying down some tracks and fulfilling his dream of becoming a respected rapper. When he learns Skinny Black (Ludacris), a local rapper turned mogul, is rolling through town for the 4th of July, DJay plans for the hustle of his life to get his voice heard. Winner of the Audience Award at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, Hustle & Flow is an intense and brilliant portrayal of one man's struggle for redemption and inspiration on life's mean streets.
"Two big thumbs up!" Ebert & Roeper at the Movies
"The writing, acting and filmmaking make Hustle & Flow nothing short of amazing." M.E. Russell, Portland Oregonian
"...funky, rowdy, and indelible. Brewer gives us the pleasure of watching characters create music from the ground up." Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
"Explosive entertainment!" Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
"A sensation! A star is born! Terrence Howard explodes with coiled energy, intelligence and sexuality!" Richard Corliss, Time
Editor's Note
A gritty fairy tale of dreams deferred, HUSTLE & FLOW infuses the torpor of the Memphis ghetto with electric tension. Terrence Howard delivers the performance of a lifetime as DJay, a pimp and drug dealer eking out an existence with his three whores, one of whom, Shug (Taraji P. Henson, HOLLA), is hugely pregnant. Nola (Taryn Manning, 8 MILE) turns tricks from the backseat of DJay's beater, while Lexus (Paula Jai Parker, LOVE CHRONICLES), the hustler's high-maintenance girlfriend, strips in a cellar-like club. DJay's dissatisfaction is increasing as he senses that life has nothing more in store for him, but a chance encounter with an old school friend, Key (Anthony Anderson, KING'S RANSOM), reignites his musical aspirations. Key is a small-time recording artist, and DJay, armed with a notebook full of lyrics, pays him a visit at home, much to the displeasure of Key's prim and proper wife (Elise Neal, PLAYA'S BALL). Initially dubious, Key agrees to partner with DJay after hearing his stuff, and the two build a makeshift recording studio in DJay's back room, enlisting the aid of a skinny white boy (DJ Qualls) with an unlikely talent on the drum machine. There unfolds the triumphant meat of the story, where, against all odds--and after a few bouts of infighting--everyone pitches in to cut DJay's crunk demo.Essentially a rags-to-riches story, director Craig Brewer avoids the saccharine through his achingly human portrayal of the characters. DJay is fraught with an undeniable misogyny that colors his otherwise sympathetic angst, and Howard portrays that complexity with grace and soul. With John Singleton in the producer's chair, HUSTLE & FLOW strikes an unprecedented balance between feel-good fare and unstinting urban drama, in what amounts to a powerful depiction of the pain and poignant struggle of those who populate this often-misinterpreted milieu.
| Features | Audio: English, French, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound | | Dubbed: French, Spanish | | Interactive Menus | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: English, French, Spanish | | This Is A Blu-Ray DVD Made For Blue-Laser Format Players Which Produce Higher Quality Picture And Sound |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Paramount |
| Release Date: 10/13/2009 |
| Running Time: 115 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2005 | | Catalog ID: 12467 | | UPC: 00097361246741 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Widescreen 1.85:1 |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
Nominee (2006) | | | Golden Globe, Terrence Howard, Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama | | | Independent Spirit, Terrence Howard, Best Male Lead | |
Winner (2006) | | | Oscar, Jordan Houston, et. al., Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song | |
Nominee (2006) | | | Oscar, Terrence Howard, Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role | | | Screen Actors Guild, Anthony Anderson, et. al., Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture | |
Winner (2005) | | | Sundance Film Festival, Craig Brewer, Audience Award - Dramatic | | | Sundance Film Festival, Amy Vincent, Cinematography Award - Dramatic | |
Nominee (2005) | | | Sundance Film Festival, Craig Brewer, Grand Jury Prize - Dramatic |
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| | Professional Reviews | Entertainment Weekly
"The home-recording sequences in HUSTLE & FLOW are funky, rowdy, and indelible. Brewer gives us the pleasure of watching characters create music from the ground up, beat by beat, take by take." 07/29/2005 p.47-48New York Times
"It's certainly live, with fine performances and a strong soundtrack..." 07/22/2005 p.E1 Rolling Stone
"Things go brutally wrong for DJay but hauntingly right for Brewer and Howard, who create explosive entertainment." 07/28/2005 p.92 Movieline's Hollywood Life
"[T]he vibrant details of setting and characterization freshen the journey." 07/01/2005 p.100 USA Today
"The best thing HUSTLE & FLOW has going for it is Terrence Howard's powerful performance?.The urban setting is grittily real. We can almost feel the sticky heat..." 07/22/2005 p.4E Sight and Sound
"HUSTLE & FLOW transcends its gangsterfied origins to become an unexpected contemplation on the transformative power of art." 12/01/2005 p.56-57 Entertainment Weekly
Included in Entertainment Weekly's Top Ten Films Of The Year -- "[A] gritty, lived-in, up-from-the-streets fable, as compulsively watchable as SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER or EIGHT MILE..." 12/30/2005 p.117-118 ReelViews 8 of 10
"Hustle & Flow takes a cliche and imbues it with new life through the virtues of directorial flair and talented acting. For most of its running time, Hustle & Flow follows familiar patterns, deviating only during a third act that brings the street's grit into what initially appears to be a happily-ever-after fairy tale...Every time Hustle & Flow appears to be drifting too deeply into feel-good territory, the director reels it back in by employing a sudden act of violence (or something similar) to act as a splash of cold water. Winning the Audience Award for Best Dramatic Feature at the Sundance Film Festival is rarely a mark of distinction. But don't let that dissuade you - Hustle & Flow is worth a look. It celebrates art, hope, and dreams, and you don't have to like hip-hop to appreciate the message or the way in which it is delivered." - James Berardinelli
Chicago Sun-Times 9 of 10
"Sometimes you never really see an actor until the right roles bring him into focus. Terrence Howard has made 22 movies and a lot of TV (most notably the series ""Sparks""), but now in ""Crash"" and ""Hustle & Flow,"" he creates such clearly-seen characters in such different worlds that his range and depth becomes unmistakable...""Hustle & Flow"" is not limited to Djay's rags-to-riches dream, because it is not a formula film. Much more interesting are his day-to-day relationships. Nola (Taryn Manning), the white woman who gets the benefit of his theory of human life, is his most profitable hooker, even though she tells Djay how much she hates getting into the cars of strange men...""Hustle & Flow"" shows, among other things, what a shallow music-video approach many films take to the inner city, and then what complexities and gifts bloom there. Every good actor has a season when he comes into his own, and this is Terrence Howard's time." - Roger Ebert
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