Something about the ratio between money and problems? Five young African-Americans (played by O'Shea Jackson, Jr., Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, Neil Brown, Jr., and Aldis Hodge) find their way out of variously difficult situations in mid-'80s Los Angeles — police brutality, gang violence, financial hardship, social and racial roadblocks, thwarted dreams, etc. — by laying down beats and rapping about them. There's some grit at the get-go, and some thrill at witnessing the development of a musical form. But the drama slows down once the money starts rolling in and the rappers' chief antagonists become each other, and maybe their manager. ("Slows down" may be generous; movies have a tendency to stagnate when everybody stays essentially the same, no matter how lively the events of the day.) By the time the 1992 LA riots explode onto the streets, the members of Niggaz Wit Attitudes are reduced to watching it on TV and driving through the chaos, looking concerned. And by the end, the film drags into straight recent-history fanservice: hey, there's Snoop Dogg; hey, there's Tupac; hey, there's Dr. Dre selling Beats to Apple. Director F. Gary Gray (The Italian Job) makes a helluva music video — the concert scenes here are among the most engaging — but doesn't seem to have much taste for drilling into his characters. Sure, they have warts, but what of it? With Paul Giamatti. (2015) — Matthew Lickona
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