For one of the most egotistical and controversial artists of the current day, Eminem actually manages to pull off the much- hyped “8 Mile” with a surprising amount of acting skill.

Going Hollywood is known to be one of the most risky moves that an artist can take, as evidenced by recent calamities such as Mariah Carey’s “Glitter.” However, Eminem brings audiences the best-yet artist’s life story of its time.

“8 Mile” is the boundary between Detroit and the surrounding suburbs but more than that, it stands for the symbolic boundaries that the main character Jimmy, aka “Rabbit,” must cross to reach his goals. Although “8 Mile” is often referred to as the story of Eminem’s life in Detroit, writer Scott Silver actually made “8 Mile” a more generic story and the film ended up only loosely based upon Eminem’s life.

Rabbit has to overcome a lying girlfriend, another girl who wants to use his skill, deadbeat friends and a lazy mother who doesn’t take care of his sister. Finally, he has to overcome his fear of emceeing to get his ticket out.

Eminem does a surprisingly good job of playing the part of Rabbit, even though he doesn’t have a whole lot of lines in the film for a main actor. Eminem exercises the stony-faced stare and hard eyes throughout the film well and might have found himself his calling card for Hollywood.

All of Rabbit’s supporting actors do an excellent job, like his friend Future (Mekhi Phifer) with whom he does a crafty freestyle of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama.” Kim Basinger portrays Rabbit’s mother with a masterful vision into the depravity of her character — a slutty, jobless, worthless figure. Brittany Murphy adds to her acting repertoire as the city girl who uses anyone, including Rabbit, in any way she can to get a ticket out of Detroit.

The acting and cast of “8 Mile” are one of the strongest points of the film, yet Scott Silver and director Curtis Hanson missed the mark with pitiful dialogue and blotchy plot cohesion. The film is filled with vast images of the deplorable conditions that Rabbit faces and struggles against.

Eminem’s intense stare has the looks of a trademark but there was quite a bit too much of his silence as a replacement for conversation or enticements for the audience to feel what his character feels. The scenes, from the metal-pressing plant in which Rabbit works, to the visuals of crack houses and filthy streets, only partially fulfill the greater social vision of which they are capable. Instead they are used marginally to support Rabbit’s struggle to escape the area.

The plot is decent, but it flows about as well as mall shoppers on the day after Thanksgiving, leaving the audience with large pauses throughout the movie to look around the theater wondering if anyone else is as bored as they are.

The few sprinkles of dry humor in the film allow the audience into a forced laughter to break up the slow parts. The audio and sound crew in the movie also did not get their wires straight and there are several scenes throughout the film where the soundtrack is louder than the dialogue and the audience must strain to hear.

Emancipation from the sluggish center of the film comes in the end, when Rabbit finally gets his goals straight. The lyrical Eminem gets to showcase his skills at Rabbit’s triumphant climax, battling the emcees who betrayed him, beat him and bested him in previous showoffs.

In the end, the audience gets a sort of warm and fuzzy feeling that leaves one wanting to accomplish their own goals, erasing any memory of the limping story line. “8 Mile” is a masterpiece in the music-to-film crossover, yet its place in movie annals is one of mediocrity.