Obliquely racist labelling of Hustle & Flow is an irritant and a real problem. The always thoughtful and frequently fair-minded David Poland says the Paramount Classics film “still hasn’t made a strong move to crossing outside of being an ‘urban’ success” and that “the international market for black dramas is not strong.” The universal humanist chord struck by Hustle & Flow is so obvious and pervasive that calling it an urban black film is like saying Melissa Etheridge is first and foremost a blue-state lesbian singer, Nelson Mandella is first and foremost a black politician and Jesus of Nazareth was first and foremost a poor unemployed Jew. Obviously I am not calling Poland a racist, but he is passing along — indulging in — obliquely racist box-office pigeonholing by calling one of the few movies out there with a truly universal character and theme an “urban” movie or a movie for blacks. When we use shorthand to describe a film, we should not allude to the superficial packaging labels but the soul of it…the spiritual element it’s either trying to express or can’t help expressing in spite of itself. (By this standard Mr. and Mrs. Smith is not a light summer entertainment with explosions and lots of gunplay — it’s a foul vomitous thing that’s actually a lot closer to being a work of demonic possession than anyone is willing to admit.)

No joy in Mudville over Friday’s figures. I was hoping Charlie and the Chocolate Factory would suffer a heavy drop this weekend (for his own good, Tim Burton needs to be bitch-slapped but good), but it took in $9 million on Friday and will probably end up with $25 million or so for the weekend. There’s really no accounting for taste, especially when it comes to the family trade. Wedding Crashers is holding quite nicely, on track to earn a bit more than $20 million for the weekend. Hustle & Flow took in $2.7 million on Friday — you do the math — but it will probably hold its ground in the coming weeks.

Reporting for the New York Times, David Carr is the latest journalist to visit the St. Paul, Minnesota, set of Robert Altman’s Prairie Home Companion. He differs, however, with reports about Paul Thomas Anderson acting as some kind of de facto co-director. [See below] Referring to Anderson as “a thin young man [who] kept popping up on Mr. Altman’s shoulder during shooting recently,” Carr says Anderson “is ostensibly on the set for insurance purposes; Mr. Altman is 80, so a backup director is part of the package.” He also quotes Anderson as saying, “Whatever chef is going to take credit for it, it is going to be a very spicy dish that I will be more than happy to dine on.”

To many, Carr explains later in the same New York Times piece, A Prairie Home Companion” is “a kind of secular religion.” Robert Altman, the film’s director, offers the following assessment: “Garrison [Keillor]’s audience is like the Mel Gibson Jesus audience. This movie is going to play for two weeks in places like Chicken Switch, Arizona, because the program has such strong rural appeal. The cast and myself will have our own audience to draw on. I think given that we have Meryl Streep and Lindsay Lohan, a lot of different people will be curious to see what this movie is about.” Chicken Switch! I love where Altman’s head’s at.

I’m looking to extend my stay in New York until October or thereabouts, and am therefore looking for another swap arrangement (Manhattanite or Brooklynite takes my place, I take his/hers) starting around 8.25…but Craig’s List is going to sleep on me, so I thought I’d post it here. I also posted on this other Craig’s List-type website for under-30s called Tribe.