Hustlers (2019)
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Hustlers Movie Review
Hustlers is a 2019 crime film directed by Lorene Scafaria and starring Constance Wu and Jennifer Lopez. It’s such a pleasant surprise.
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“We’re a family now.
A family with money!“
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In this apparently real life story, we follow a bunch of strippers who start drugging rich men and then taking their money from credit cards. It’s very much a twist on the standard crime flick by being all about women this time around and it’s a big enough change that it makes the film very refreshing, especially for being told from a woman’s point of view as I really respect the decision to give a female director an opportunity to direct this story.
Hustlers is very complicated when it comes to its message and that is where it’s a double-edged sword. On the one hand, the movie clearly portrays the actions of these women as criminal and horrible. But on the other hand, it almost gives them a pass by saying in the final line that the entire country of America is criminal and they were just one part of it. That is on-point, but still the stronger takeaway should have been that none of us should stoop to that level no matter what.
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Constance Wu is the acting standout undoubtedly. It’s great that ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ launched her Hollywood career so successfully and here she for the first time got a meaty role worthy of her now obvious talents. Her performance here is powerful, emotional and worthy of any nominations out there.
Jennifer Lopez isn’t as good, but she’s still stupendous for a singer turned actress. Some of her scenes are also quite powerful, though she’s obviously more of a supporting player in the end product. The friendship that develops between the two is simply beautiful and the heart and soul of this movie. It is the best thing that came from a female-directed product and it grounds this movie and gives it true power besides its subject matter.
I liked some of the other characters quite a bit such as for instance Dawn who is so hilariously ditzy. Lili Reinhart and Kiki Palmer are both very good and fun in their roles. But the others are just afterthoughts for the most part, and the movie unfortunately sacrifices other women for the two main ones. I loved the core friendship, but I wanted a bit more from the others too.
The men are also suitably sidelined, but I wouldn’t call the film sexist toward men as there are a couple of scenes which really showcase the gravity of this criminal situation. And it’s hard to feel sorry for these rich asshole guys who throw money away on strippers which is exactly the point the movie’s trying to make.
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Hustlers is above anything else a hugely entertaining movie. I did not expect it to be this funny, and it’s a problem to make these horrible criminal situations funny, but still I laughed out loud more than a couple of times. The humor was excellent throughout and I really have to commend the clever dialogue and script at display. But they still did not make the characters too clever, but realistic which was important. It’s also a very well shot, solidly directed and well-paced movie which flies by how fun it is.
Hustlers may be problematic in the ambiguity of its message and in the overwhelming presence of humor, but still that led to a hugely entertaining, frequently even hilarious film owing to a very strong script and dialogue. The themes are well explored, and the heart and soul of the film is the beautiful central friendship, powered by two stellar performances from Jennifer Lopez and especially Constance Wu.
