It's easy going with the 'Flow'

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Even pimps can buy into the American Dream. Djay (Terrence Howard of "Crash") thinks the rap song in his heart is his ticket out of the 'hood. "Hustle & Flow" catches him trying to punch that ticket even while lying and hustling whenever the need arises.

Rare is the film that can get us to root for such a morally dubious sort, but darned if we don't do just that.

Young writer-director Craig Brewer brings a bracing authenticity to his second feature film, which earned the Audience Award at this year's Sundance Film Festival. His confidence with his cast and the difficult material portends a solid film career.

Djay's life as a small time drug dealer and pimp in steamy Memphis, Tenn., keeps him alive but spiritually vacant. He begins noodling around on a Casio keyboard hustled on the street one day and imagines he could write his own music if only he had the right equipment.

Enter Anthony Anderson, the portly comic who's doing compelling work on "The Shield," as Key, Djay's old high school peer. Key records church singers to make ends meet and lives what any outsider would deem the traditional American dream. But he, too, itches for something bigger.

The two become three when Key introduces Djay to Shelby (DJ Qualls), a geeky organist with a firm grip on hip hop's beats. The trio staple egg cartons on the walls of Key's spare room to create a makeshift sound studio. In the film's signature set piece, they start banging away on their first song, which although it runs a little long, will make even those nurtured on Mozart and Mahler tap their toes.

With a demo in hand, Djay plans to cajole native rapper Skinny Black (Ludacris) into hearing his song when the rap star visits his old hometown. Will the improbable plan pay off? Or will Djay's complicated ties with his working girls (Taryn Manning, Taraji P. Henson, and Paula Jai Parker, all rising far above stereotypes) derail his dreams? It's anyone's guess.

In Djay, Mr. Brewer has written a three-dimensional character -- but it's all Terrence Howard the rest of the way. The actor, after more than a decade working steadily but near invisibly to most, announces his arrival with a gorgeously nuanced performance. He's moody, foul and closed off, then tender and defeated all in the span of a single scene, and every shade seems real.

In a shift that feels false, the film's epilogue feigns naivete about the rap business, as if Mr. Brewer suddenly and all too conveniently found himself an outsider to hip-hop culture. It's also more incendiary than necessary, as if the writer-director felt compelled to appease a gangsta demographic before he ran out of story.

"Hustle & Flow" doesn't gloss over the sins of its antihero, nor does it deny his chances for a semblance of redemption.

***1/2

TITLE: "Hustle & Flow"

RATING: R (Nudity, drug use, strong language and violence)

CREDITS: Written and directed by Craig Brewer. Produced by John Singleton and Stephanie Allain.

RUNNING TIME: 115 minutes

WEB SITE: www.hustleandflow.com

MAXIMUM RATING: FOUR STARS