After watching 8 Mile, I was sorta looking forward to more movies that were loosely based on rappers' real lives. Of course, the mediocrity of 50 Cent's Get Rich or Die Trying changed all that... so why did I watch ATL? I really don't know... for one thing, it received way better reviews than Get Rich, yet it wasn't anything special. For another, I'm a fan of T.I.'s hip hop tracks so I thought, "Hell, how bad could it be?"

The movie's about T.I. and his best friends, a well-meant group of ghetto youngsters. Shortly put, they're not gangsters. But when T.I. little bro starts getting involved with the local drug lord Big Boy for quick cash, trouble brews. To exacerbate the melodrama, T.I.'s love interest turns out to be a faux.

With the surplus of movies portraying the grim reality of thug life, ATL is a refresher in the censored sense. Instead, the film feels a lot more like a 2 hour long infommercial for D.A.R.E. and Smokey the Bear. In fact in one scene, the antagonist of the story Big Boi asks T.I.'s teenage brother if he smokes. When the innocent minor denies, the drug thug compliments, "You dare to be different."

Albeit, well-intended, ATL is on the stale end of the scale of entertainment. In order to tailor a scholastic film for youngsters, the movie sugarcoats anything from profanity to familial dysfunction to gang life to about everything else. Heck, it even tries to make roller skating look cool. When all's said and done, perhaps a few young T.I. and Outkast fans can take a fateful cue from their idol's message. Or perhaps it's all wishful thinking.
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