by Chris Feil
After Hustlers, give Lorene Scafaria the keys to the kingdom. After writing and directing the character-based comedies The Meddler and Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, she steps into crime comedy territory with all of her generous character detail unsacrificed as she steps into a new genre. Here she’s made something that feels like kicked-in doors and popped champagne bottles. It’s women behaving badly as a natural extension to an ecosystem led by men who burn the world down to serve their own interests, and it’s as entertaining as it is because of Scafaria’s balance between the affectionate and the defiant.
But while the film will immediately cause comparisons to ubermale crime sagas likes of The Wolf of Wall Street or examinations of the final crisis like The Big Short, Hustlers is less of a familiar retread of those films than it is two middle fingers blazing in their direction...
As originally detailed in Jessica Pressler’s 2015 article “The Hustlers at Scores” published in The Cut, the film follows the true story of New York City strippers that scam wealthy men in the aftermath of aughts financial crisis. Constance Wu stars as Dorothy, a loner who flourishes within the community of female performers, but especially under the motherly care of Jennifer Lopez’s Ramona. Once the financial bubble bursts, Ramona hatches a scheme to dupe (and drug) Wall Street executives and their sort into offering up their credit cards. The tight-knit familial unit (with other ace supporting players including Keke Palmer and Lili Reinhart) that they develop gets compromised however once the flimsy plan eventually goes sour.
The film’s foremost triumph is Scafaria’s. Hustlers moves with an undeniable, propulsive energy, immediately immersing us into a playground of female solidarity and male objectification. The director quickly establishes the slippery morality of the environment that contextualizes the shoddy justification of their crime, but even moreso lays the foundation for the emotional stakes between women where connection can mean survival. This is Scafaria’s richest achievement, an instantly rewatchable and quotable pop extravaganza made all the more special for the depth she delivers quite casually.
For Wu, the film allows the actress to discover Dorothy and her more confident and direct stripper pseudo persona Destiny with interesting contradictions. Wu alternately opens up as she isolates, slowly realizing the arrangement has fooled and trapped her into a false sense of belonging. As she relays the story to Julia Stiles’ stand-in for Pressler (a perfunctory but thoughtfully used framing device), her vulnerability lends Hustlers an undercurrent of raw humanity that Wu shouldn’t be disregarded for. Though the film largely operates as an ensemble piece, the story ultimately pivots on her emotional journey.
But what is likeliest to set most conversation and movie screens ablaze is Jennifer Lopez firing on all movie star cylinders as the architect and godmother of the entire enterprise. With the grand dame warmth of Rosalind Russell and the offhand wit of a Kathleen Turner, Lopez is a complete sensation. Her Ramona arrives with full throttle star persona and then surprises with her openness, with Lopez making her crueler, dominating traits arrive unexpectedly and without apology. It’s a perfect role for her underrated gifts and a delight unlike any of this year’s star performances, but her complexity throughout shouldn’t be underestimated. We simply don’t get many performances like this.
Upon meeting Ramona and climbing into her fur coat as instructed, Dorothy exclaims “How are you so good?!” with awe. The film is essentially two hours of that feeling, both for Scafaria and Lopez.
Without reaching for prescience, Hustlers is one of the most thoughtful cinematic examinations of the financial crisis for how it shows the downstream effects felt by people exploited by the men at the top. It also thunders with some of the year’s greatest song cues and backstage scenes that demand this thing be seen with a crowd. For something enraging, glorious, and most of all compassionate, everyone should climb in Hustlers fur. A-