Hustle & Flow

Sympathy for the pimp is a problematic basis for a movie, but not an impossible one; the trouble with ‘Hustle & Flow’ is it backs up its lead character’s exploitative self-absorption rather than challenging it. Howard is Memphis hustler DJay, fending off a midlife crisis by taking a shot at a hip-hop career. It’s a powerful performance, the music isn’t bad and there’s a convincingly shabby feel to the impoverished Southern locale. But the plot is formulaic and the action conforms to DJay’s meretricious world-view, right up to a finale that revels in a gansta’s fantasy of credibility.