Patti Cake$
Director: Geremy Jasper
Year Released: 2017
Rating: 1.5
Three outcasts from New Jersey, Eminem-style lyricist Patti (Danielle Macdonald), Jheri (Siddharth Dhanajay) and instrumentalist Basterd (Mamoudou Athie), dream of being famous rappers and impressing superstar O-Z (Sahr Ngaujah) but are trapped in menial jobs (Basterd is an anarchist ... but his Dad is a lawyer!) - one day Patti has a chance encounter with O-Z, who tells her she has no talent, and she sets out to prove him wrong (No gods! No masters!). I guess the 'You Can Do It!' message is supposed to be 'inspirational' - not unlike a picture of a cat clinging to a tree branch for dear life - but you can feel the Rancid Sundance Stamp on this, as it's so heavily manipulated from a screenwriting point-of-view that you know it's going to conclude with as much forced Positivity as Possible (oh look, even boozy floozy Ma gets redeemed!). The songs, written by Jasper, are cleverly worded, but nothing else is.
