“Hustlers,” a new film from director Lorene Scafraia (“The Meddler”), presents itself as a moderately unique look inside the infamous stripping industry. Instead of solely focusing on the business’ sexual aspects and the objectification of the women who work within it, the film opts to depict the real life struggles many of them face, in addition to the lengths that some will, and have, gone in order to improve their circumstances. With a strong cast of leading ladies and a shockingly true story to frame itself around, it seemed as if the film should be a homerun. Through its stylish visuals, timely story and a powerhouse performance by Jennifer Lopez (“Second Act”), the film showed that it certainly possessed the potential to be a powerful, unique adaptation of its subject matter. Ultimately it passed as a low-stakes summary of an event which possessed quite the opposite qualities.
“Hustlers” tells the true story of a group of New York City strippers who use their profession as a way to steal money from their Wall Street clients. Throughout the film, the viewer is given the opportunity to empathize with workers in the stripping industry by witnessing the issues that they face both in and out of the workplace, such as financial burdens and mistreatment from their clientele. The character of Dorothy “Destiny” (Constance Wu, “Crazy Rich Asians”), humanizes strippers further as the viewer experiences her life of attempting to support her young child and grandmother, thereby rationalizing her choice to enter the industry.
In the role of seasoned dancer Ramona, Jennifer Lopez shines in perhaps her career-defining performance, as she displays her ability to play an empowered, albeit self-centered individual. The same may be said for the rest of the ensemble cast which includes the likes of Keke Palmer (“Ice Age: Collision Course) and Lili Reinhart (“Riverdale”), who both display similar qualities in their respective roles, thus allowing for a convincing depiction of the hardships which they face throughout.
Contrary to the actresses’ performances, the story overall left little for them to fully display their talents in, for it merely skimmed over the plentiful amount of substance it had to utilize. More specifically, the film seemed to only summarize the events surrounding the women’s schemes rather than going in depth with the more risky or suspenseful moments until closer to the end. Because of this, the film lacked the high-stakes and danger which seemed to be promised by its trailers and promotions, thus rendering it as somewhat of a disappointment. However, the film did hold up on its end of the bargain by producing a story filled with strong female characters who can hold up on their own, in addition to being able to concoct such a convoluted, yet surprisingly clever plan in order to better themselves. As such, it can be said that “Hustlers” is not necessarily a total victory, but it proves itself enough to stand as at least an entertaining warm-up for the more anticipated films which will soon follow it this Fall.
Image from Movieclips Trailers via YouTube
