Review of Hustlers (2019) by Markhreviews — 20 Sep 2019

Writer/Director Lorene Scafaria has done many things right in this tale of entrepreneurial strippers who have hearts of gold – until they don’t. She demonstrates that these women are much more than male fantasy stereotypes, broadening and deepening all of them by sympathetically depicting their roles as mothers, wives, caregivers, businesswomen. As a result, even the scenes in the strip club are less about objectifying women’s bodies and more about respecting their strength, power and grace. In accomplishing all this, “Hustlers” raises the bar for female empowerment movies.

Most important, Scafaria has created a truly memorable star vehicle for Jennifer Lopez (Ramona), who is simultaneously strong, independent, nurturing, vulnerable, manipulative and predatory. J Lo’s opening dance number in a strip club that is literally raining money is one of the most captivating visuals in recent memory. Throughout this film, she struts, she prowls, she hugs, she cries – and, through it all, you just can’t take your eyes off of her.

“Hustlers” is a fictionalized version of a true story, based on a “New York Magazine” article by Jessica Pressler, portrayed here as Elizabeth (Julia Stiles). The story looks back fondly at 2007, the period before the financial crisis when money was flowing and corporate credit cards had few limits. Over the following years, strip clubs, like the rest of the country, were in financial meltdown. After trying to survive on straight jobs, Ramona and Destiny (Constance Wu, “Crazy Rich Asians”) eventually decide to work their old client lists, plying them with booze until they can drug them and steal what’s available on their credit cards. Initially, there are few, almost no, complaints. One client was apparently bilked out of over $125,000 – amazingly, over three different encounters with these women.

There are enough missteps in this film to undo some, but not all, of the goodwill created by its strengths. Scafaria has squandered a perfect mechanism for social commentary - she intercuts the movie with interviews between Destiny and Elizabeth, a great opportunity to explore bigger issues and lessons learned. At times, the film does seem to be trying to address a bigger context of larger social, cultural, moral issues, but that all evaporates much too quickly. When the interviewer asks Destiny to analyze why and how it all went wrong, one would not expect her to offer insights worthy of St. Thomas Aquinas; however, it’s unsatisfying that we’re left with little more than a fortune cookie riddle: “Hurt people hurt people.” Without directly saying so, the film also seems to suggest an interesting moral equivalence. By supporting/advocating for Ramona and her friends, the movie’s clear implication is that it’s okay to rip off Wall Street executives because they’ve been ripping off the country all along. At the end of the film, Ramona says so directly: “This whole city, this whole country, is one big strip club.” This statement would be considerably more interesting if the film, at any point, had explored the ethical or moral dimensions of those times.

Ultimately, “Hustlers” is a lot like real-life strippers (or so I’m told) – a lot of flash, a lot of tease, but ultimately a less than fulfilling relationship.