Hustlers (2019)

Hustlers is a somewhat different take on the traditional crime film, ostensibly exploitative and glossy on the surface, but with some surprising themes to ponder underneath. This one is inspired by the real-life story, chronicled in an New York Magazine article by Jessica Pressler (who gets co-writing credit) of how a group of strippers found a way to continue to make money through the recession of 2008 and beyond, fleecing, Robin Hood-style, the very Wall Street types that had been fleecing the rest of America.

Starting off in 2007, Constance Wu stars as Destiny, a newbie stripper trying to make it in the clubs of New York’s competitive environment in order to earn enough money to support her and her ailing grandmother. Backstage she meets and ends up being mentored by a legendary veteran stripper named Ramona, who completely cleans up in terms of money whenever she appears on the stage or off. However, the great recession of 2008 soon hits, with opportunities completely drying up to earn cash in the strip clubs, with both ladies struggling to make ends meet. That is until Ramona decides to put her skills at working the crowds of men to the test, gathering up Destiny and several other stripper friends to lure in the Wall Street types with corporate accounts to swindle them out of thousands of dollars at a time.

Lorene Scafaria writes and directs this drama with a focus on the friendships that form among the thieves and looking deeper beyond just quick cash as to why they might stay together to continue their run of theft. Some might call this a Scorsese-esque true crime picture, mixing elements of such films as GoodFellas and The Wolf of Wall Street, though without many of the more artistic or ultraviolent aspects of the veteran auteur. The same was once said about The Big Short, which was another film about the origins of the greed on Wall Street that caused the events within Hustlers, though Scafaria’s film shoots mostly straight with similar material. Perhaps not so coincidentally, both The Big Short and Hustlers have the same production company involved, Will Ferrell and Adam McKay’s Gary Sanchez productions (though called “Gloria Sanchez” for this more female-oriented take).

Two strong performances bolster the drama, with Constance Wu showing a full range of emotion and vulnerability in a very finely nuanced role. Jennifer Lopez doesn’t have quite the same range but is appealing in one of her best roles in a number of years, and quite impressive in a performance that requires her to be an amazing pole dancer. Hard to believe that she’s 50 years old given how she bests women half her age on the stage. Some of the supporting cast isn’t quite as strong, but they don’t have to be. as the bulk of the situations involve one of the two main players, with the rest only adding a few bit scenes to complement the story.

Despite being a film about strippers, nudity is mild here, which keeps the emphasis on the drama better but does make you wonder sometimes how the hottest strippers in the most lucrative strip club in town get to be that way when they never take off even their tops. Also interesting to note is that not all of the women who dance at the club are built as typically depicted, with many women of various sizes and shapes doing their thing and doing it well for the crowds that come to see them.

One aspect that does seem to distract from the story is the one set more in the modern-day featuring Julia Stiles as Elizabeth, a reporter trying to get the full story for an article she is writing about the experience of the strippers. While these scenes are revelatory in terms of the focus of the relationship between Destiny and Ramona and feature some of the finest acting moments on the part of Wu, they also tend to slow down the main story’s momentum and cut into the sense of mystery and suspense as to where things are leading. Perhaps relations this in a more linear fashion by putting an abbreviated version of these scenes until the end would have yielded better results for looping viewers into the plight of the women to see how things develop.

Themes develop on how the American way of doing things is rigged and that you’re either a taker or taken from in this society that favors the sharks (no one went to jail for tanking the United States economy that saw many people lose their jobs, their homes, and more). This helps to form the grey area necessary for us to have conflicted feelings about what these women are doing, preying on unsuspecting men for thousands of dollars, but also these are men who have been preying on the rest of us for millions. Scafaria also paints some of the men as not all bad, at least the ones who have a conscience and actually like the women as more than a means for self-gratification.

While the suspense may be muted, Scafaria is still able to give us a good sense of the atmosphere of the strippers and their motivations, showing us the seedier side behind the scenes without dipping into sensationalistic exploitation. In fact, the last thing these women want to think about is sex once they are done, much to the chagrin of their occasional partners. While there is quite a bit of glitz and gloss to the depiction of their lives, they are flawed and human in a way that proves to be refreshingly interesting, especially in how they have to deal with men who frequent the clubs, ranging from complete Wall Street douchebags who think they can run the town to average joes who are interested in feeling the attention the women provide, even though they are only providing it as long as the money flows their direction.

Qwipster’s rating: B

MPAA Rated: R for pervasive sexual material, drug content, language and nudity
Running Time: 110 min.

Cast: Constance Wu, Jennifer Lopez, Julia Stiles, Keke Palmer, Lili Reinhart, Cardi B, Lizzo, Wai Ching Ho
Director: Lorene Scafaria
Screenplay: Jessica Pressler, Lorene Scafaria