Hustlers - Review

Hustlers

“Hustlers” starring Jennifer Lopez is a 2019 American crime drama film written and directed by Lorene Scafaria and based on New York magazine's 2015 article adaptation "The Hustlers at Scores" by Jessica Pressler. The film also stars Constance Wu, Julia Stiles, Keke Palmer, Lili Reinhart, Lizzo, and Cardi B. The plot is based on a true story account that follows a group of strippers, principally two characters “Ramona” (Lopez) and “Destiny” (Wu), and their actions and re-counting of those actions of how they together with other women began to embezzle vast sums of money from wealthy and prominent Wall Street stock traders and corporates CEOs who visit their club.

REVIEW: Running 1:47 minutes long, the first 45 minutes felt genuinely provocative, scintillating, highly sexual, suggestive and dare I say for an R rated film sizzled erotically. The early back and forth story telling through direction and dialogue of “Destiny’s” (Wu) present day flash backs of her stripper pasts and exploits in an interview with a reporter named “Elisabeth” (Nancy Stiles) was very effective. Specifically the accounts of the very first few days of “Destiny” working at an exclusive strip club in 2007, her struggles as a caretaker for an elderly and financially destitute relative and her being a struggling mom, all worked spot on for me. Her story telling was equally spot on as it smoothly segwayed into “Destiny” (Wu) random meeting and becoming enamored by the more charismatic "Ramona" (Lopez). We watch "Destiny" emotionally grow under the wise tutelage of the more seasoned experienced queen bee of strippers “Ramona” as their pairing here felt real and never felt contrived or false. This opening was some of Lopez’s best work since her 1998 film “Out of Sight” with George Clooney.

Lopez and Wu had natural chemistry together as we watch their personal and professional friendships organically grow from Wu’s “Destiny” playing the role of the student through ”Ramona’s” teaching and stewardship about all of the inside “moves“ (pardon the pun) into to how to making lots of money each night. Their relationship felt authentic, in the moment and sincere.

Also, from an overall film perspective, it was an eye-opening examination of how one might easily dismiss getting naked to make a living is not that big of a deal.  I mean how hard can it really be? Well, it's just the opposite, it’s not easy at all. Rather it is a very hard thing to do. From being physically demanding on their bodies in shoes that defy gravity it can also be equally taxing on their conscience - ethics by numbingly having the professional courage to night after night selling themselves in order to please the sexual fantasy men. Sometimes being degradingly and sarcastically rejected by myriads of strange men. Sometimes by nice and respectful generous men. And others times by out right misogynistic and neanderthal pigs of men.

To get up night after night to face the gauntlet of unpredictable human sexual behavior by leaving one’s pride, inhibitions and fears at the door takes more effort than just on the surface by appearing in a room undressed. These women are indeed professionals whether they chose to be strippers or were compelled to be for financial reasons. Either way “Hustlers” the showcased the women as being highly intelligent, determined, focused and decent women with real needs and desires. ...............But that was the first 45 minutes. The next 62 minutes was like watching someone hitting a pole…………….a strippers poll full frontal that is.

“Hustlers” promising beginning fell quickly under the weight of two major flaws. The first flaw was as when story turns in 2009 where the women are having hard times after the 2008 financial collapse. Their decision to making money by drugging their former wealthy stripper clients under the false promise of sex but instead to lure them in to stealing their pen numbers for debit and credit cards cash got boring to me and boring very fast.  Under any circumstances that kind of criminality should have been dealt with more seriousness and intrigue since earlier so much effort was made to empathetically like these women and their choices. Instead the film goes downed a one-dimensional path of making all of the men look like smiling, grunting, flesh covered giant two-legged dildos who were just way too happy and equally stupid to be taken advantage of. Men literally just lining up as nothing more than testosterone fools to be exploited at their clear idiotic financial expense. I actually began to wonder midway in the theater just how smart were these men in the first place to become millionaires on one hand and yet be such sexual 2^nd grade dopes douche bags to be so easily drugged and financially ruined at personal disgrace because they were so inebriated by alcohol – drugs that apparently made them equally if not more so intoxicated by their primordially horniness like pot little belly pigs.

The second flaw was even more obvious as despite the films depiction of the mutually supportive sisterhood among these likeminded women to becoming the “hustlers now hustling the hustlers”, the story still got bogged down in needless bland and boring personal family entanglements story lines and more so no sense of legal consequences or ramifications by any of the key characters to wonder for a moment………..”What if we get caught?”.  It was just one (metaphorically speaking) night after night of being under the Christmas tree adventure of having fun, shopping and celebrations without a scintilla of concern for their criminal behavior as you watch them repeatedly …… seduce men, drug men, rob men and dispose of them out of their minds at their homes. And for nearly 40 minutes it was seduce men, drug men, rob men and dispose of them". Seduce men, drug men, rob men and dispose of them. Did I say seduce men, drug men, rob men and dispose of them? Well, OK yes, they repeatedly seduce men, drug men, rob men and dispose of them.  Whatever original genuine empathy you may have had for these women’s plight to survive stripping went out of the window pretty fast as they seem less someone to root for to prevail and more like a bunch of privileged 16 year old teenage girls who's vacationing parents are billionaires, who while away find accidentally their Platinum American Express cards and the keys to the Range Rover………………and the shopping mall and Chipotle are open all night. 

“Hustlers” missed a really great opportunity to telling a mature story about how these working class women, may I add all very beautiful women, even while committing a crime could have still been someone to cheer for. Someone to admire their desires to empower themselves to “sticking it to the man” with real  warmth and open compassion. But instead the second half of the film skims along whimsically and superficially as nothing more than a basic forgettable crime film. One in which normally they would have been charged with armed robbery, these women on the other hand could have been – technically  should have been charged with “Armed Vaginal Temptation Robbery”. I mean it makes only sense to make it sound that way with both the dumb men in the film and the women who served them clearly proved the point…………………having lots of money to spend, wanting to have a lot money to spend  and or making a lot of money to spend makes all party’s very horny.

“Hustlers” with some good acting and constructed scenes early, as well some beautifully cinematic scenes to look at, in the overall end the film misses the mark, misses the stripper pole, misses the dance floor and misses the “Hustle and Flow”.

2.50 Stars