Movie Reviews: “Get Rich or Die Tryin'”

If Joaquin Phoenix has a hard time convincing us he is Johnny Cash, Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson is even worse at convincing us he is himself.

Get Rich or Die Tryin’ is also a rags-to-riches musician’s life story with a command as its title, which substitutes the crisp yellows and reds of the 1950s South with the grime and grit of mid-80s New York.

The basic structure is intact-flashbacks to childhood trauma and a concerned girl on the sidelines-with a notable exception: Johnny Cash is on drugs while he is famous, ’50 Cent’ only becomes famous after he quits dealing.

Hollywood took a commendable risk in choosing indie Irish director Jim Sheridan (“In America” and “My Left Foot”) for this work, and it seemed to make sense. Sheridan makes films about struggle. He gets the look right, but sadly most of the film feels inauthentic.

When crack replaces cocaine on the streets, the film explains the switch with a laughable ‘Mr. Wizard’-esque scene in which a higher-up invites the dealers to his house to show them how crack is made.

In “Get Rich”, the drug business is run like a crime corporation, with the CEO as a second-rate Brando-style Godfather.

Any decent moments Sheridan and the otherwise talented cast may have created are ruined by either Jackson’s meandering, monotone narration or his even more dreadful screen presence.

I can practically see Sheridan wincing behind the camera, halting the shoot and stammering, “Uh, 50? This is the part where you are supposed to try out one of those, you know, ‘facial expressions’ we talked about.”