And so "Get Rich or Die Tryin'," the film debut from 50 Cent (real name: Curtis Jackson), plays like a feeble retread of Eminem's film debut "8 Mile" — not just because it's arriving in theaters only three years later and it's so similarly semi-fictional, which it is. Mainly, "Get Rich" proves once again, as in "Glitter," that standing in front of a camera and portraying a thinly veiled version of yourself is harder than it sounds.

Eminem pulled it off — even though "8 Mile" was essentially a rap version of "The Karate Kid" — because he had an inescapable charisma, an intensity about him and an innate ability to connect with his audience in a way that was evident even from his earliest music videos. 50, though, has always had a much more low-key vibe, which on the big screen renders him nearly inert.

But 50's character, Marcus, should be the driving force in the midst of all the poverty and drug deals and drive-by shootings that eventually serve as fodder for his music; instead, he feels like a passenger in his own story. He has the same look on his face nearly the entire time — a sort of halfhearted smile with his eyes slightly squinted — and he delivers the film's many voiceovers in the same monotone as his real-life hits like "In Da Club" (which did have an insanely catchy beat).

Many details from Marcus' life are similar to the now-infamous aspects of 50's past: the absence of his father, the killing of his drug-dealing mother, the drug dealing of his own, the rap sheet, and the nine bullets he took and managed to survive.

Marcus amasses a small crew, makes some money and becomes a pawn in the power struggle between his violent mentor Majestic (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) and drug lord Levar (Bill Duke, borrowing from Brando in "The Godfather"). He reconnects with his childhood girlfriend, Charlene (the graceful Joy Bryant), who seems too smart to be involved with him plausibly but gives him a child nonetheless. And he goes to jail, where he hones his gangsta rhymes.

While he's there, he meets the persuasive and talkative Bama, who will go on to be his manager on the outside. This is the best thing that could have happened to Marcus and to the audience, as well, because Bama is played by Terrence Howard, who lately has proven himself to be the most compelling figure in every film he's in (including this year's underappreciated "Crash"). He's funny, charming, slightly dangerous and desperate but never boring.

Howard's presence also inevitably calls to mind his own superior rap movie, the low-budget "Hustle & Flow," which seemed addled with cliches when it came out this summer, but comparatively is looking better all the time.

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