Beneath the badass, this movie from former music video director Geremy Jasper is a pretty traditional, soft-centred Cinderella story, with touches of Baz Luhrmann, about a young woman following her show business dream in America, while staying true to her mom and nana.
Yet it’s watchable and likeable, due to Australian star Danielle Macdonald, who brings some fierce charisma to the role of alienated Patti Dombrowski, otherwise Killa P or Patti Cake$, a person of size in dreary New Jersey yearning to break into the macho world of rap.
She’s living with her mother Barb (Bridget Everett) and grandma (Cathy Moriarty, who was Vicki LaMotta in Raging Bull), taking terrible jobs in bars and restaurants while pursuing her rap career with supporting artistes Hareesh (Siddarth Dhananjay) and nihilist punk performance artist Bob (Mamoudou Athie).
It can be a bit gooey — apart from one startlingly brutal moment when Patti battles with a boorish male rapper who effectively concedes her verbal superiority by butting her in the face — and it is a strangely old-fashioned heartwarmer about talent contests and “putting up flyers”. Has Patti Cake$ heard of the internet? Shouldn’t she be building her brand on YouTube? It’s a little bit formulaic; Macdonald sells it.
Don’t miss it
Patti Cake$ releases in the UAE on September 7.
