The journey to the top of the overcrowded rap game inspires a new and unlikely story from the stage name of a gifted female MC, named ‘Patti Cake$’. In a coming-of-age story straight out of the dirty streets of New Jersey, an unlikely rapper finds her voice as a one-of-a-kind hip-hop legend in the making, turning a cold shoulder to the adversity that her unsupportive environment around her that tries to limit her potential. It’s Patti’s (Danielle Macdonald) determination that will earn her undeniable street cred, and ushering in the era of a new lyrical lion-heart. The first feature film written and directed from (appropriately enough) acclaimed commercial and music-video director Geremy Jasper. Set in gritty strip-mall suburbia, “Patti Cake$” chronicles an underdog’s quest for fame and glory with humor, raw energy and some unforgettable beats. The film is rated R for adult language throughout, crude sexual references, some drug use and a brief nude image.
If ‘Patti Cakes’ were A track, it would be compared to A Top 40 club hit that requires some time to grow on you. Sure, at first it’s annoying and A bit too forced for its genre or classification, but after you’ve heard it A few times and know what it’s about, it starts to grow on you until you can’t get its irresistibly infectious tones out of your head. Jasper’s newest project definitely feeds into the underdog appeal of the hip hop community in the same way that films like ‘8 Mile’ or ‘Get Rich or Die Tryin’ did across the last decade. But the appeal with ‘Patti Cakes’ is that it takes A protagonist who is audibly and visually unlike anything going in the hip hop game today, and appeals to those dreamers watching at home who stare into A mirror wishing for greener pastures. In that sense, it’s A story for all of us. The dreamers tale is certainly nothing new, especially in modern cinema, but Patricia feels like she has earned that prestigious title by keeping her head above the clouds and silencing the doubters who have written her off A long time ago.
From A storytelling perspective, there’s plenty to be commended about in Jasper’s co-written script, but none more powerful than the honesty that it bestows upon its framing of the real world. Set in Bayone, New Jersey, A town that is anything but A hip hop community, this screenplay pokes and prods at the concepts of how something completely out of our hands in decision-making like hometown can serve as the single greatest antagonist in obstacle to ones success. We’ve heard critics before mention how A setting in A particular film feels like A character within the movie, but in ‘Patti Cakes’ that labeling feels far more appropriate because it really is all of these antagonists like local rappers, childhood bullies, and even family that plague this woman from making something of her rare talent to silence them all. There’s almost A feeling of rotting in the air here without feeling too forced, A poison that keeps you grounded the longer that you stay within its clutches, and we see this direction affected many times because of the many people who see Patti as the typical overweight lazy burden that doesn’t seem to visually match the part by her white skin color or curvy physique for all of the wrong reasons to them. This is that rare film that bottles all of those historical attributes up and carries them out for A protagonist whose greatest strength is in the pipe bombs that she unleashes whenever the doubters fill the room.
If there is A weakness to the film’s progression, it’s definitely in the overall presentation that caters to the music video style pizazz of cinematography. This is of course intentional, after all Jasper is A former music video director, and the decision to craft A plot that centers around music feels like A no-brainer from his position, but it always feels like it’s limiting the atmosphere of these situations that hover above and wait to be embraced with patience. In that regard, it is the one soul emotion that is clearly missing here because jumpy editing and extreme close-ups during sequences that deserve A wide angle lens alienates more than appealed my viewing and ever kept me from fully embracing this unorthodox style of filmmaking. The pacing too is slightly off, especially during the second act when it felt like this film should’ve been wrapping up where it still had forty minutes left. The third act does triumph gorgeously with more pills of truth to swallow about the prejudices plaguing the hip hop community, but it’s in that middle where viewers will find the most trouble staying hooked firmly into this story. Nothing feels like it should be cut, I just think the film is sometimes trying to approach from too many angles the many people involved in Patti’s life instead of focusing on the title character who never fails to steal the show.
On that regard, welcome to the show Danielle Mcdonald, your time is now. The one thing missing from Mcdonald’s performance here is that long-winded speech that surely nominates her for an award or two, but she more than makes up for that loss with A harrowing and committed performance of this alter ego that has no shortage of confidence or charisma in the swagger that she strides with. This will definitely be one of those roles that will be difficult for Danielle to shake because she simply is Killa P, the urban princess of Bayone who attacks more bars than A jail of prisoners, and she became this role so fluently that I’ll never be able to see her as anything else for A long time. Mcdonald feels like the right protagonist for the right time in our society, when body shaming is getting out of hand. Here comes A girl who takes the worst that her community spits at her, and she spits right back with an arsenal of vicious rhetoric. Besides Mcdonald, this entire ensemble cast plays their parts accordingly, and really made for some emphatically entertaining exchanges by this group of misfit toys. The best moments for me are definitely when Patti and best friend Jheri (Played by Siddharth Dhananjay) are together, but this script would feel hollow without the riveting exchanges that Patti endures from an immature Mother (Played by Bridget Everett) who places far too much responsibility on the shoulders of A kid who clearly didn’t grow up with A needed parental figure. That effect has shaped Patti’s outlook on life clearly, and there is A taste of that anger from Mcdonald’s register boiling beneath the surface, even if her demeanor portrays A devastating force who can’t be stopped, only slowed down.
Soundtrack tastes are always entirely subjective, but I rode the wheel of indecision for the majority of this film, enjoying and disliking what was offered. What I will say is that music does indeed play A vital role to the movement of this screenplay, dominating the first and third acts of this movie like A modern day hip hop musical that does the occasional pausing of progression to drop some character exposition in the most literal of ways. What was difficult however, was when the rhymes and pacing of the lyrical lines does feel slightly off in the amateur songwriter kind of way. Could this be intentional because this story is about A local rapper? Quite possibly, but that doesn’t make them anymore enjoyable to indulge in. I can remember being floored in positivity by each and every track in ‘8 Mile’, so there’s very little excuse as to why ‘Patti Cakes’ can’t quite accomplish the same feat, especially when you consider Mcdonald’s precision with becoming this personality. For my money, the best track was involved in the closing of the movie, that takes place on A local talent show to scout future talent. The duality of rock and rap involved in the track mentioned gives this soundtrack A stamp of experimental that reminds us what could’ve been had they not stuck so close to the gimmick rap of easy rhymes and cheesy sound effects.
THE VERDICT – ‘Patti Cakes’ strikes A familiar flow in the underdog structure, but the flawless passion of A breakthrough performance by Mcdonald, as well as the honesty in attacking some truly vicious stereotypes in the hip hop community makes this cake A deliciously hard-edged treat that stands tall. The style of the film would be better suited to slow down and pace itself accordingly with the sometimes enduring 103 minute runtime, but it can be forgiven for its creative mistakes by hammering home the heart, soul, and resiliance of its title character. Proving that Patricia (like Mcdonald) was made for the big stage.
7/10