Hi everyone!
We’re continuing catchup week with another Certified Fresh film from the last couple of months. One Movie Spouse and I had a chance to check out “Hustlers” to see what the hype was about, and we came away impressed with considerations. I’ll get to what I mean in a bit, but a couple other films related to today’s film, check out Constance Wu in “Crazy Rich Asians” (Episode #253) and her voice work in “Next Gen” (Episode #252).
Before the review, we’ll have a promo for our friends at the Top 5 For Fighting podcast. Every episode, Greg and Mike sit down to talk about whatever is catching their interest at the time, and as you might expect, if they don’t agree on something, they’re definitely going to fight about it. Be sure to check out their guest review for “Aliens” (Episode #604) during Reign of Terror 2019. Believe it or not, they actually agree on something at the end of the episode!
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Here we go!
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Today’s movie is “Hustlers”, the crime drama written and directed by Lorene Scafaria, based on a magazine article by Jessica Pressler. The film follows Destiny (Constance Wu), a young woman who gets involved with stripping during the economic boom of the mid-2000s, thanks to the help of Ramona (Jennifer Lopez), an older stripper who teaches her the ropes. However, after the 2008 economic crash, Destiny, Ramona, and a few other former and current strippers take to drugging and robbing the super-wealthy to make ends meet.
No spoilers.
Truth is often stranger than fiction, but especially the truth of the lives of the ultra-wealthy. Both cinema and television have gone to great lengths to try and bring the lifestyle to viewers, sometimes glamorizing it as in the aptly titled “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” with oft-imitated, recently deceased host Robin Leach. Or more often than not, and as we’ve seen with quite a few reviews this year, criticism of the ultra-wealthy, whether that’s “Parasite” (Episode #630), the genre-bending meditation on class, or “Joker” (Episode #632). And let’s be fair, meditating on the haves and have nots is a theme as old as our current economic system.
I’m not a huge fan of wealth porn, so I normally wouldn’t have bothered to see a film like “Hustlers”. It’s not that I couldn’t be objective when examining a film that glamorizes wealth, which you can see in my review of last year’s wealth porn future classic “Crazy Rich Asians” (Episode #253). I just wouldn’t choose to watch a film unless it has something new to say, or some new way of saying something old. So, much like “Crazy Rich Asians”, I held off on watching the film until my fellow critics weighed in, and after seeing the Certified Fresh rating, I knew I should see it. And much like “Crazy Rich Asians”, this is pure wealth porn. The amount of wealth on display is obscene, not just in the suits and cars and costumes, but in the unbridled spending that marks the pre-2008 Manhattan scene. With so much money available, the stripper-client relationship is one of mutual exploitation, in addition to the stripper-owner relationship. Of course, that relationship dramatically changes after the crash, which is where “Hustlers” really takes off.
The biggest strength of “Hustlers” is the all-star cast, one somehow flexible enough to be lead-driven in Constance Wu and Jennifer Lopez, and ensemble-leveraging with Cardi B, Lizzo, Keke Palmer, and a great supporting performance by Madeline Brewer. Jennifer Lopez is in top form, who manages to both defy and meet expectations, depending on the viewer, and shines in her solo performance scene. Constance Wu, who plays the lead character Destiny, is sometimes overshadowed by Lopez, ending up in a little sister role, at least until the end.
However, my problems with the characters have nothing to do with the cast or their performances. It’s that, much like “The Wolf of Wall Street”, I can’t empathize with any of them except on the most abstract level. Sure, it’s unjust when the power dynamic changes after the 2008 crash, but both the dancers and the executives are still engaged in a form of mutual exploitation. The dancers, the executives, the police, and the families all feel entitled. Even Elizabeth (Julia Stiles), the reporter trying to make a dollar off their story, seems engaged in exploitation, which makes it perhaps the perfect capitalist film.
I may not like the themes or the characters, but I also think this film has a lot of objectively good qualities. The sets are well-chosen, bringing the balling strip club scene to life, and utilizing the common color palettes and filters for different parts of the story. The music is also well-chosen, a combination of stripper and hustler anthems, mostly female-driven. The slick art direction and cinematography, however, are sometimes upset by the jarring storytelling style, a combination of flashbacks and jump cuts, as we learn the story during a conversation between Destiny and Elizabeth after the events had taken place.
And while this might make for a great news story, it doesn’t leave the viewer with any larger message. Sure, the executives lost their money, and the dancers face varying degrees of penalties, but we’re still back in a dog-eat-dog world, where those involved still have to find a way to survive, and aside from any real estate they might own, nothing else to show for it. In the end, there’s no one to root for, just a bunch of people to root against, no matter how well performed by the cast.
“Hustlers” is a story about mutual exploitation, and how relationships change with the presence and absence of wealth. A strong cast turns in great performances for unlikeable and entitled characters, which will maybe leave viewers dissatisfied, depending on their expectations. Fans of crime films, or films about robbing the rich, will definitely like this film. And it probably goes without saying, but be ready for a lot of skin.
Rotten Tomatoes: 88% (CERTIFIED FRESH)
Metacritic: 79
One Movie Punch: 7.6/10
“Hustlers” (2019) is rated R and is currently playing in theaters.
