Film Review - The Hustle (12A)

Men always underestimate us. And that is what we use.

Speaking of underestimation, I had no great hopes regarding The Hustle. This wannabe laughter-fest had already undergone critical crucifixion by the time I went to see it, so I was more or less settling in for a teatime snooze. Maybe it's those low expectations working their magic once again, but in reality this film simply isn't as bad as everyone else is claiming. I don't even mean to damn with faint praise here, it was passably entertaining. Yes I realise they'll hardly want to quote that on the DVD box cover, but still...

Rebel Wilson and Anne Hathaway star as feuding con-artists in a gender-reverse remake of 1988's Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Wilson is Penny, a small-time scammer whose criminal behaviour sends her on the run as far as the French Riviera. There she crosses paths with Josephine Chesterfield (Hathaway), a high-class swindler with a swanky pad and actual staff. Faced with the inconvenience of a rival on her patch, Josephine reluctantly agrees to school Penny in the art of the high-class con. But their deal proves short-lived and the chalk-and-cheese grifters end up in a pitch battle - to see who can cheat a young tech billionaire out of his - well - billions.

See? It really is a remake, the Dirty Rotten writers coming out of apparent retirement and following their original plot beat for beat. Okay - Filmic Forays is big into equal female representation in cinema, but there has to be a better way than the Ghostbusters/Ocean's 8 reboot-with-women route. Scoundrels was funny but not that funny, and there are diminished returns here, with even the two standout sequences from the Steve Martin/Michael Caine comedy reworked in ways that simply don't match up. It feels like this particular source material has been rehashed as a Rebel Wilson vehicle. And while Wilson's improv shtick has entertained elsewhere (she gave a consistently amusing turn in the Pitch Perfect franchise), here it feels forced at points - a pale imitation of Martin's zany '88 antics.

Brought in to provide the classy counterpoint, Hathaway comes out of the whole thing better, and is the single best reason (as was the case in Ocean's 8) for watching. She's clearly having a blast with her multiple-character turn, whether playing dumb for one of her selected marks, sporting a faux English accent or adopting a more outrageous persona as the battle of wits accelerates. It's spirited comedic work at all points, not least in the slapstick sequences where her rapport with Wilson really shines through. Look out for a couple of neat character turns as well - Breaking Bad's Dean Norris as a hapless Texan mark, while Nicholas Woodeson supplies nuggets of deadpan gold as Josephine's butler Albert.

The 'girls-having-fun-at-the-guys'-expense' theme is undermined by the route that the story slavishly follows (think back to how the original turned out), and one element of the denouement feels entirely unconvincing. Still with its rich-playground settings and some decent direction from Brit comedian Chris Addison, this is better than many will tell you, and it's undeniable that the girls in question really did have fun. Just a shame that with their talents they couldn't have worked with something vibrant and truly original.

Gut Reaction: The opposite of that 'laughter dying in your throat' experience. Prepped to remain stony-faced and surprised to find myself lol-ing a few times. 

Memorable Moment: The con-school training montage.

Ed's Verdict: 6/10. It's a notch or two down from its Dirty Rotten predecessor, but Hathaway's fun performance lifts it to the level of disposable summer entertainment. Nope - that won't feature in the marketing either.