Hustlers is by no means a bad film. In fact there is plenty in here for people to like but I left the cinema without much feeling about it at all and that’s not a great thing to have happen.
In short, Hustlers is a film about J-Lo as a ringleader and momma bear to a group of disgruntled strippers who decide to get organised to illegally extort money from their gullible, and some not so gullible, punters, thereby cutting out the usual cut that the club takes from their pay.
The story of trying to plot your way out of a situation such as the one that Dorothy (Constance Wu) finds herself in is pretty good and the familial bonds that these women build up, especially between Dorothy and Ramona (played by a really impressive Jennifer Lopez), have a great deal of merit. But from all this hard work that you see, they end up seemingly wasting their hard-earned, illegally-obtained money to buy frivolous items and spend on endless celebrations and not to elevate themselves out of their current plight, making them no more amenable than the overpaid, lowlife punters that they are extorting.
However, the relationship between Dorothy and Ramona, although started well and built nicely, felt flimsier as the film progressed like it was about to break at any moment, so when it did it wasn’t really a surprise. The attempts at comedy/levity mostly fell flat, apart from Annabelle’s (Lili Reinhart) ability to puke on command, or at the slightest offence/stress.
It is filmed really well and brings a great deal of style to the screen, although the format of the storytelling felt misplaced with the flashbacks from the reporter’s interview (who was another strange character in this who kept re-appearing in various places and times to no obvious reason). The thing that most impresses is that Hustlers, and director Lorene Scafaria, does so well to not provide a male gaze whilst basing most of the work around the exploitation of the female form and it’s use for male pleasure. Instead giving the women real character behind the front that they put on whilst working and focussing on the base behaviour of the Wall Street clientele and their belief that money is god and allows them to do whatever they want.
But overall this film felt too shallow for the story it was trying to tell and, with no real heavy consequences to their actions, felt lightweight. The last line, although well-delivered, felt very forced in an attempt to make this film more pertinent and meaningful than it was. I didn’t expect anything going into this and usually that leaves me pleasantly surprised. This time though, it was a little bit of a let down: It wasn’t really thrilling, overly entertaining or enjoyable. It just was. And, unfortunately, now it’s mostly forgotten.
Film N Stuff 