why it's an official Sundance selection. Danielle MacDonald is warm and funny throughout the film, Danielle also delivers very heartfelt and emotional scenes, giving an overall strong performance. Patti isn't the only character that shines here, Bridget Everett as Patti's mother, Barb, also feels real and also delivers a strong performance. The mother daughter dynamic between these two characters is something out of the ordinary, and something not usually shown by Hollywood. Patti's friend Hareesh Siddharth Dhananjay alongside Patti's grandmother Cathy Moriarty are both used mostly for comedic relief. Patti's "Nan" is, in my opinion, the stand out character of the film, she brings laughter to the movie, yet she also acts as Patti's mother figure, seeing that her real mother isn't really there for her when Patti needs her. This story follows Joseph Campbell's Heroes Journey step by step, yet it does so in a very refreshing and new way. With likable, relatable characters, all of which feel like actual people, something most Hero's journey stories fail. Many people argue that Hollywood's films are losing creativity, this is one very unique and specific film. A film I would recommend to most people, I myself don't listen to rap and while I don't dislike it, I don't like it either. After seeing this movie I've got the gritty and outstanding original songs stuck in my brain, something I can't usually say about rap. In conclusion, this film is a great starting point for both director Geremy Jasper and leading actress Danielle MacDonald, and one I highly recommend you watch when it comes out on August 18th.

and try again. Sometimes that's enough.Patricia Dombrowski Macdonald knows this general feeling world-weariness quite well. She's an aspiring rap artist and thusly faces all the hardships that come with trying to make it big in a crusty New Jersey city where everyone is already aspiring for the same. Additionally she's impoverished, juggles multiple jobs and deals with her fair share of false starts. Her only advantage is her youth, which given the fact that she's morbidly obese may not be enough to curry her favor. Despite this she, along with her rag-tag group of friends give their all to seek fame, fortune and true artistic expression in a world that expects nothing from them.I will readily admit that I am a sucker for these kinds of movies, and as far as this movie goes, Patti Cake$ is quite the charmer. Much of this is reliant on Danielle Macdonald's sympathetic performance as the talented but gun-shy Patti aka Killer P., whose flows vacillate between lyrically catchy to downright Shakespearian. The entire story is told from her perspective which often melds into a bold magical realism whereby she's spitting her words to the approval of O-Z Mgaujah her musical hero. These segments of the story are often coated in stormy skies and green tint; the color of money.Patti's transition from a "culture vulture" to a bonafide lyrical phemon doesn't come without a pessimistic bite. The insurmountable and grave struggles that Patti faces may not have the same incredulity as that of 8 Mile 2002 or Hustle & Flow 2005 but they do carry with them a level of incredible honesty. These are the struggles of someone who is serially undervalued but who nevertheless doesn't let the melodrama of her life define her. Moreover she includes fellow misfits Dhananjay and Athie in her odyssey – not for the sake of furthering a nothing career but to be a conduit for artistic expression.Those who dispute Patti Cake$ is nothing more than a cliché-riddled Sundance célèbre aren't exactly wrong about this. One can certainly draw a thematic line between this and other feel-good tales like Sing Street 2016 , Billy Elliot 2000 and Akeelah and the Bee 2006 . Yet Patti Cake$ brings a grizzled authenticity to the well-worn formulas of underdog stories, and does so while showcasing some truly fun tunes co-written by director Geremy Jasper and Jason Binnick. I say If the purpose of cinema is to belay poetic justice in 120-minutes or less then Patti Cake$ should be considered rousing success.

eyes. Great acting, great story, great idea all around. Watching this movie was time well spend. Kudos!

guilty of all those things.And it completely worked for me. I dug this film immensely. Why? Mostly because I'm a sucker, I guess.I'm a sucker for movies about people making music. I'm a sucker for movies about working class people trying to get by. I'm a sucker for movies about creativity and dreams and struggle. I'm a sucker for movies with energy and a sense of fantasy mixed with the hardships of the real world. But all of that can go horribly wrong. It's easy to earn an eye roll when two characters hold hands for the first time and the music swells. It's easy to lose patience when the mechanics of the script become so incredibly predictable that you can chart the struggles and victories in the first ten minutes.Patti Cake$ is partly saved by director Geremy Jasper's amazing synergy of music and imagery. The film is an absolute blast to watch if you love movies about music. But what really sells it is actress Danielle Macdonald as Killer P, A.K.A Patti Cake$.Macdonald is sick in this. Utterly amazing. I fully believed she was a New Jersey girl with strong flow who the director found in some parking lot and decided to build a film around. I was ecstatic to find she's an Australian actress who, before taking this role, had never heard a New Jersey accent and didn't know how to rap.It's through her authenticity that I bought into the fantasy culmination of the perfectly orchestrated underdog struggle. Through her that I bought into the love and the joy and the hope.And I walked out of the film happy and charged, finally content just to be an audience member pleased.

ended early. Patti is a white girl trying to make it in the black stereotypical world of rap, it's not the most original story, and feels predictable, especially towards the end.Worth watching even if you're not a big fan of rap music