“Hurt people hurt people….the whole world is a strip club…sleep is where and when it happens.”
Lorene Scafaria‘s “Hustlers” rides and dies by the morally dubious motto above.
The set-up concocted by Scafaria is actually artfully intimate at first, setting up the main strippers of the film, played by Constance Wu, Jennifer Lopez, Keke Palmer, Lili Reinhart, Lizzo and Cardi B. They are all working-class women, barely making ends meet, getting their dough by dancing and grinding on me clients nightly at a top-tier Manhattan strip club packed with Wall Street “assholes.” Then the 2008 crash happens.
Scafaria’s film is based on Jessica Pressler’s 2015 article (“The Hustlers at Scores“), which inspired Scafaria to write the script. Julia Stiles plays Pressler in the film under the pseudonym Elizabeth.
The idea of strippers, cash-strapped during the recession, deciding to wreak revenge on stock traders and Wall Street patrons by spiking their drinks and stealing money from them might entice some, but unlike “Goodfellas,” which Scafaria’d film is clearly inspired by, “Hustlers” refuses to condemn their actions. Even when the Feds start investigating and the predictable fallout occurs, Scafaria seems to be turning a blind eye on her female pack’s rotten behaviour — you can hear the writer-director all-but-shouting “GIRL POWER.”
This half-successful but all-too-safe effort from Scafaria shouldn’t be surprising, having already directed the middling “Seeking a Friend for the End of the World,” and the amusing-as it-went-along “The Meddler,” which was saved by a deftly comic performance from Susan Sarandon, Scafaria’s safe but well-meaning films can sometimes feel a little too bland. “Hustlers” is no exception.
I had originally missed “Hustlers” at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it was almost universally praised by critics, especially Jennifer Lopez’ performance as the matriarch of the criminal operation. The buzz for J-Lo was so deafening that I couldn’t help but place her atop my Best Actress Oscar predictions. J-Lo, 50-years-of-age is in absolute stunning shape in the film, so much so that almost every rave review seemed to be mentioning her physique as if was part of the merits of this performance. Suffice to say, after having seen the film today, she is no longer in contention for the Oscar. In my opinion, Constance Wu gives the best performance in “Hustlers.”