![]() ![]() Jesus once posed a convicting question to his followers: “What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” Worldly success isn’t evil in itself, but its single-minded pursuit can be deeply corrosive-particularly when it tempts us to accommodate ourselves to worldly expectations. We prefer the “boss” Patti who imperviously shrugs off the haters, not the one who responds to others’ abuse by skillfully dishing out her own. ![]() Worse, the whole incident feels out-of-sync with her character as we’ve seen it so far. In the end, the victory earns Patti no love-only a bloody nose. When she proves that she can spit with the best of them, their contest quickly devolves into a tit-for-tat exchange of hatefully obscene and sexually humiliating rhymes. In one of the film’s grittier scenes, for instance, a local rival provokes Patti into an extemporaneous parking lot rap battle. Other times, it suggests that a darker side of Patti’s character is vying for top billing in her life. Sometimes it seems to represent a quiet nobility that belies her brassy exterior, as when we see her sensitively tending to Nana’s incontinence or holding her intoxicated mother’s hair out of the way as she wretches in a public toilet. ![]() Her confident swagger and heroic resilience in the face of multiple life challenges lend credence to the ritual of self-affirmation she performs in the bathroom mirror: “You're a boss But as the film proceeds, we begin to sense that Patti is still working out what “boss” really means. As hip-hop icon Jay-Z once said, “Belief in oneself and knowing who you are-I mean, that's the foundation for everything great.” In music, as in life, you don't get very far without some tough skin and an authentic personality.Īt first, Patti seems to have both. Patti Cake$ certainly won't win any awards for family-friendliness, but it does a fine job illustrating both the connection and tension between personal identity and commercial success. But it turns out that Patti might not be ready for the limelight. Patti finally gets her coveted shot at center stage when she, Jheri, and Nana team up with a reclusive musician (Mamoudou Athie) to form the band PBNJ-a delightful team of misfits with an earworm of a demo track. Others mock her ambitions, but Nana and Jheri encourage her to believe in herself and follow her dreams. When she isn't caring for her wheelchair-bound Nana (Cathy Moriarty) or working dead-end jobs to support her alcoholic mother (Bridget Everett), she improvises rap lyrics in parking lots with her best friend Jheri (Siddharth Dhananjay) and fantasizes about life as a hip-hop star. “Patti Cake$”), a 23-year-old Jersey girl aspiring to become the next big thing in rap music, despite not looking the part. The film rises above the worldliness of its subject matter, however, offering a moody reflection on the idols we pursue in the quest for personal greatness.ĭanielle Macdonald delivers a breakout performance as Patricia “Dumbo” Dombrowski (a.k.a. Patti Cake$ certainly fits the bill, setting a familiar underdog story to a decidedly original (and deservedly R-rated) soundtrack. A hip-hop movie featuring an effervescent, larger-than-life white girl is bound to groove to a few unorthodox beats.
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