''Patti Cake$'' is a 2017 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by Geremy Jasper. It was screened in the US Dramatic Competition section of the

2017 Sundance Film Festival The 2017 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 19 to January 29, 2017. The first lineup of competition films was announced November 30, 2016. Awards The following awards were presented: * Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic – ''I Don't Feel at ...

. It was released on August 18, 2017, by

Fox Searchlight Pictures Searchlight Pictures, Inc. is an American film production company and a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is part of the Walt Disney Company. Founded in 1994 as Fox Searchlight Pictures, Inc. for 20th Century Fox (later 20th Century St ...

Plot

Patricia Dombrowski wants to join a record label to become a rap superstar. Danny hands her a flyer for an upcoming rap show that he and his friends will perform at. Patti and Jheri go to the rap show to see Danny and his friends perform. They witness a solo performer, Basterd The Antichrist, who performs a hard rock song but gets booed off the stage. One day, Patti spots Basterd going through a tunnel known as the Gates of Hell. Patti comes across Basterd's secret spot where he records music and beats and has Jheri come there. As Patti and Jheri are about to get kicked out, she pleads with Basterd to let them record something since they are desperate and want to make music. Together, they create a demo CD with five original songs. They make copies and start selling a few, even getting Danny to buy one. Patti also meets a radio host named DJ French Tips, whom Patti is a fan of. She gives French Tips her demo CD to listen to. Patti goes through incidents which blow down her spirits, eventually breaking up with Basterd and Jheri. One day, Patti gets a call from DJ French Tips, calling to tell Patti she liked what she heard from the demo CD. She tells Patti that she submitted her name for a competition for that weekend in Newark called the Rookie Monster. Patti thanks French Tips, and her spirits are suddenly lifted. Patti reconciles with Basterd and Jheri. Patti, Jheri, and Basterd go to Newark for the show. They learn that Oz, Patti's favorite rap artist, is up on the balcony watching the show. Patti is completely nervous but then gets up the courage to start spitting raps as Barb, her mother, walks in to watch her perform. To her surprise, they used a sampling of one of her old songs, Tough Love, which incorporates Barb's lyrics into the song. The crowd goes wild as they love Patti's raps. Patti even gets Barb to personally sing the chorus. The two embrace as the crowd cheers. Ultimately, Nomad wins the competition, but that doesn't get Patti down. After the show, Patti meets with Jheri and Basterd and they listen to the radio. They hear DJ French Tips announcing their song from the show which has become the most requested song. The three cheer and embrace each other as their song plays over the radio.

Cast

Danielle Macdonald Danielle Louise Macdonald (born 19 May 1991) is an Australian actress, known for her lead roles as Patricia "Patti" Dombrowski in the drama film ''Patti Cake$'' (2017), and Willowdean Dickson in ''Dumplin (2018). She is also known for her ro ...

as Patti *

Bridget Everett Bridget Everett (born April 21, 1972) is an American comedian, actress, singer, writer, and cabaret performer. She has starred in the semi-autobiographical 2022 HBO series '' Somebody Somewhere'', the movie '' Fun Mom Dinner'', and in a one-hou ...

as Barb *

Mamoudou Athie Mamoudou Athie ( ) is a Mauritanian-American actor. He is best known for starring in the 2022 Netflix horror series ''Archive 81'' and supporting roles in films including ''Jurassic World: Dominion'' (2022). Athie began his career in theater� ...

as Basterd *

Cathy Moriarty Cathy Moriarty (born November 29, 1960) is an American actress and singer whose career spans over 40 years. For her work in Martin Scorsese's 1980 film ''Raging Bull'', she received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress ...

as Nana *

McCaul Lombardi McCaul Lombardi (born May 20, 1991) is an American actor. Born in Baltimore City, Maryland, he is known for his roles in ''American Honey (film), American Honey'', which won the Jury Prize at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival; and ''Patti Cake$'' - w ...

as Danny *

Nick Sandow Nick Sandow (born August 3, 1966) is an American actor, writer, producer and director, best known for his role as Joe Caputo in ''Orange Is the New Black''. Early life Of Italian descent, Sandow grew up in the Italian neighborhood of Van Nest ...

as Ray * Patrick Brana as Slaz * Siddharth Dhananjay as Jheri

Release

''Patti Cake$'' premiered at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

on January 23, 2017. The film received distribution offers from

Focus Features Focus Features LLC is an American film production and distribution company, owned by Comcast as part of Universal Pictures, a division of its wholly owned subsidiary NBCUniversal. Focus Features distributes independent and foreign films in th ...

Neon Neon is a chemical element with the symbol Ne and atomic number 10. It is a noble gas. Neon is a colorless, odorless, inert monatomic gas under standard conditions, with about two-thirds the density of air. It was discovered (along with krypton ...

, The Orchard and

Annapurna Pictures Annapurna Pictures is an independent American media company founded by Megan Ellison in 2011, that specializes in film production, live theatre production, television through its Annapurna Television division, and video game publishing through i ...

. However,

acquired distribution rights to the film for $9.5 million, the second largest deal of the festival behind

Amazon Studios Amazon Studios is an American television and film producer and distributor that is a subsidiary of Amazon. It specializes in developing television series and distributing and producing films. It was started in late 2010. Content is distributed th ...

' purchase of ''

The Big Sick ''The Big Sick'' is a 2017 American romantic comedy film directed by Michael Showalter and written by Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani. It stars Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Holly Hunter, Ray Romano, Adeel Akhtar, and Anupam Kher. Gordon and Nanj ...

''. It was released on August 18, 2017.

Reception

''Patti Cake$'' received generally positive reviews from critics. On review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has an approval rating of 85% based on 172 reviews, with an average rating of 7.20/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "''Patti Cake$'' hits a number of predictable beats, but adds enough fresh elements -- not least Danielle MacDonald's potentially starmaking turn -- to make its underdog story work." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a normalized rating, the film has a score of 67 out of 100, based on 37 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews." ''

New York Magazine ''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, and with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker'', ...

's'' Vulture.com called the film a "Sundance charmer" and described it as perhaps "the most endearing surprise," of the

. ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'' reported that star of the film Danielle Macdonald was met with a

standing ovation A standing ovation is a form of applause where members of a seated audience stand up while applauding after extraordinary performances of particularly high acclaim. In Ancient Rome returning military commanders (such as Marcus Licinius Crassus a ...

when she took the stage after the world premiere at Sundance. Macdonald has been described as the break out star of the film. The film has been compared to ''

Hustle & Flow ''Hustle & Flow'' is a 2005 American drama film written and directed by Craig Brewer and produced by John Singleton and Stephanie Allain. It stars Terrence Howard as a Memphis hustler and pimp who faces his aspiration to become a rapper. It als ...

'' and '' 8 Mile'', which both also portray a person struggling to create a career as a rapper.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Patti Cakes 2017 drama films 2010s English-language films 2010s hip hop films American drama films Films produced by Chris Columbus Films set in New Jersey Films shot in New Jersey Fox Searchlight Pictures films 2017 independent films 2010s American films TSG Entertainment films