The game is rigged. And it does not reward people who play by the rules.
Inspired by a New York magazine article by journalist Jessica Pressler, Hustlers tells one of the stranger stories to come out of the 2008 stock market crash. And with an ensemble cast as diverse as it is starry, it's one of the autumn cinema season's genuine surprises. That's partly due to a barnstorming performance from Jennifer Lopez as veteran exotic dancer Ramona, a woman who deals with the realities of the financial crisis in cool and ruthless fashion. Lopez is good - possibly better than ever before - but she's not all this based-on-fact movie has to offer.
Constance Wu (of Crazy Rich Asians success) takes lead duties in the role of Destiny, naive 'new girl' at a high-end New York strip club. She's chiefly working to support the beloved grandmother who has raised her, but struggles to survive there. Then she's wowed - and wouldn't we all be on some level - at the dynamism and attitude of Lopez' experienced pole dancer. Ramona takes Destiny under her wing, teaching her all the right moves on and off the pole, so that she can thrive in that testosterone-thick environment. But the 2008 crash curtails everyone's party, from the club's Wall Street trader clients to the girls themselves. When financial hardship bites, Destiny, Ramona and their fellow-workers turn creatively criminal in order to keep themselves afloat.
Written and directed by Lorene Scafaria Hustlers is, I'd say, a notable step forward in female-led Hollywood movies. It's bold and brash with its own voice, using the sleazy mileau of the strip club in a way we've never seen before. Instead of the leering male perspective of innumerable cop and gangster flicks, we get the girls' perspective - no less coy, but a lot more nuanced. This is a tough, unsavoury workplace for sure, but it also has its own unique energy and tawdry glamour, while a bawdy changing-room camaraderie throws the characters into relief as fiery, often hilarious flesh-and-blood individuals. These are women with whole lives outside - struggling with issues of rent and relationships and family - and this is the graft they do to stay in the game.
A relative newcomer to the director's role Scafaria shows a virtuosity with the camera that's reminiscent of Martin Scorsese in Goodfellas or Casino. She also edits her story to clever effect a la The Wolf of Wall Street, making the most of its conventional flashback framework. (Julia Stiles plays the Pressler journalist figure, interviewing Destiny in-depth about her stripper-turned-felon experiences.) And the use of music is great - a pumping dance soundtrack intercut counter-intuitively with bursts of Frederic Chopin.
Scafaria draws out great performaces too from her ensemble. Wu is a great anchor as the ingenue who finds her criminal mojo while still clinging to her conscience, while Lopez grabs the opportunity as tightly as her dance pole to play a tough, complex character. (Every gravity-defying move was hers, I've fact-checked it.) But it's the group dynamic that's perhaps most impressive. While the characters played by the likes of Keke Palmer and Lili Reinhart are relatively sketchy compared to our central duo, together they make a remarkably convincing group of friends. Whether these women are bantering backstage, plotting to access their marks' credit accounts or swapping Christmas gifts, they're never less than documentary-level real.
If there's a downside it's that the con-story is a bit overlong, with a degree of rinse and repeat in what we see on screen. Nor does the climax achieve quite the level of drama you might hope, say that of last year's Widows. However this film achieves around five times' the spirit of Ocean's 8, with feisty, self-empowered characters you'll enjoy hanging out with, however reprehensible their choices. Plus it critiques 21st Century western capitalism nicely. Not bad for a low-key off-season comedy drama we'd not really been waiting for. As walks on the wild side go, Hustlers is one you should definitely consider taking.
(Director Lorene Scafaria tests the pole.)
Gut Reaction: A lot more involvment and a lot more laughter than I'd been expecting. And goggle-eyes at one point. Speaking of which...
Memorable Moment: J-Lo's pole moves. If I said otherwise and then you saw the film, you'd know me for a liar.
Ed's Verdict: 7.5/10. A raucous heist-comedy with a human side, it's pushed to its high score by great direction and some scintillating ensemble acting. The 'true story' aspect is fascinating too.
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