Get Rich or Die Tryin'
age 18+
Mythic tale based on 50 Cent's life; not for kids.
- Rated: R
- Genre: Drama
- Release Year: 2005
- Running Time: 134 minutes
What parents need to know
Violence
Sex
Language
Consumerism
Drinking, drugs, & smoking
Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that younger teens are going to want to see this movie. It includes frequent violence (shooting, stabbing, fist fights) and its consequences (loss of friends and family, funerals, desires for revenge and discussions of alternatives). The hero appears in the hospital, in emergency surgery, and near death, as the film flashes back to his birth in a diner. A woman is burned to death in her home (her killer claims to have raped her first, though we don't see this). The hero starts his drug dealing career as a child, shoots rivals, and is shot himself, in a brutal scene shown twice. Prisoners fight in a shower, showing naked bodies and bloody effects of stabbing and beating. One sex scene includes close-ups of body parts. Dialogue and lyrics include frequent cursing (including "f--k" and the "N" word).
User reviews
Parents say
Kids say
What's the story?
GET RICH OR DIE TRYIN' centers on Marcus (50 Cent), whose mother is killed when he's only eight years old. Luckily, he's surrounded by friends, family, and would-be killers who repeatedly declare their love for him. The film opens with Marcus' shooting -- based on 50 Cent's famous "nine times," then segues into flashback of his youth. His search for the father he never knew, which leads to relationships with outsized men, including brutal Majestic (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) and cellmate Bama (Terrence Howard), who becomes his rap music manager. The partners' release from prison leads to a collision with Majestic, who feels possessive toward Marcus as his "hardest working" dealer. Before it ends, the movie returns to Marcus' shooting as Marcus lies on an ER surgery table. On finding that Marcus is still alive, Majestic demonstrates the film's most hysterical love. After he assaults one non-Marcus associate with a machete, Majestic arrives for Marcus' big opening at a local club. Unable to convince his onetime protégé to step back, Majestic goads him into a fight. Barely conscious after he's been throttled and beaten, Majestic gurgles, "I love you, man." Everybody does.
Is it any good?
QUALITY
In this mythic, formulaic, and utterly earnest movie, everybody loves Marcus. He appears repeatedly in the sort of elegant, evocative filtered-light frames favored by director Jim Sheridan and DP Declan Quinn. This visual softening underlines Marcus' fundamental decency and devotion to his mother.
Families can talk about...
Families can talk about Marcus' choices: to be a drug dealer (to "get paid") or to try another route to "get out of the ghetto." How does the movie make Marcus sympathetic despite the fact that we see him shoot another dealer? How does this story add to the myth that 50 Cent has created about his life? Does the movie glamorize a violent lifestyle? Do your kids think this movie is true?
Movie details
| Theatrical release date: | November 9, 2005 |
| DVD/Streaming release date: | March 28, 2006 |
| Cast: | 50 Cent, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Terrence Howard |
| Director: | Jim Sheridan |
| Studio: | Paramount Pictures |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Run time: | 134 minutes |
| MPAA rating: | R |
| MPAA explanation: | strong violence, pervasive language, drug content, sexuality and nudity |
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are conducted by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
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Surprise...it's an "art movie"
Having expected this to glamorize rap, money and violence in a toxic, intoxicating head-trip, I was shocked to find it was a sensitive art movie...primarily...with many levels of meaning and a lack of sensationalism. A friend said, "No wonder, look who the director was." (My Left Foot, In The Name Of The Father, The Boxer, In America) Having followed Common Sense Media since it launched, I was sooo proud to find that your review did justice to this picture. I was expecting a big STOP sign. What I love about this movie is that it shows a life nobody would want to lead filled with people who are appealing and real even when they are awful and worth avoiding. Any movie in which Bill Duke puts in one of the more predictable and superficial performances has got to be a movie with REALLY great character acting, because Duke is always good+. I'm not sure I "enjoyed" this movie, but it will not surprise me if I think about it for the rest of my life. Especially Grandma! Thank God for Grandma's.
PHIL :)
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I Would not Watch it at all.
I take it as bad as a 2 min. sex sence.
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