Hustlers (2019) — Film Review
An entertaining and moving tale of working class anti-heroes. This is how I would describe the movie I just watched. That description might be well suited for an old school Martin Scorsese film. But if Scorsese’s lead characters were all female, would they inspire the same statement? If the movie is about the true story of a group of strippers who create a criminal enterprise to rob wealthy men, would your biases still allow for that description?
The movie Hustlers is brilliant but when you (dare I say it) strip away the strippers, this is a moving piece on motherhood, sisterhood, and what working class women have to do to survive in a predatory male world.
Writer/director Lorene Scafaria makes this film rain with emotional depth and familiar struggles; all from the perspective of people who could easily be you or someone you love. Typically when these types of stories are told they are movies made by men (i.e. Showgirls, Striptease) and oftentimes when we’re meant to empathize with these women there’s still a little bit of shame for their lifestyle as if they are somehow beneath us [spoiler alert: they are not]. With Hustlers, Scarfaria takes a drastically different approach. The movie doesn’t shame, nor does it explicitly celebrate the world of sex work but instead its quick to highlight the moral failing of the men that make up the majority of their clientele; specifically white male Wall Street executives.
These men are the real villains of the story. Their careers are soaked in fraud and illegal behavior and their personal lives are spent using their money as a weapon to degrade women.
My favorite scene is at the beginning of the film. The new girl at the club (Constance Wu’s Destiny) watches as the veteran (Jennifer Lopez’s Ramona) takes the stage. Even before she begins dancing, Ramona’s walk on stage generates headliner-level excitement. Destiny stands in the audience, completely mesmerized by Ramona’s ability to garner so much attention and make so much money from damn near every man in the club.
Still fangirling over Ramona’s stardom, Destiny follows Ramona to the roof during a smoke break. Ramona, draped in a bikni, fur coat, and stripper heels, looks at Destiny and says “where’s your coat?”. Destiny nervously replies, “Oh I left it downstairs” and Ramona tells her to come over and “climb into my fur”. In my opinion this is the brilliance of Scafaria’s direction on display. The visual metaphor of Ramona literally taking Destiny under her wing is one of the most meaningful scenes you’ll see on the big screen this year. Keep in mind that they don’t know each other, they literally have just met — and yet a bond between these two women is forged almost instantly.
At times it’s difficult to discern between the real life personas of the cast and the characters they play, but I imagine that may have been intentional. Jennifer Lopez, who’s been in the business for three decades as an actress, singer, and dancer is perfectly suited for the role of a mentor to younger actresses like Keke Palmer, Lili Reinhart, and Constance Wu (riding high off her role in 2018’s Crazy Rich Asians) as well as notable cameo roles from young musicians like Cardi B and Lizzo. Lopez’s Ramona showcases all of her real-life physical prowess and overwhelming stardom, but there’s also a sense of urgency to her hustle. The collision of two very important points “I’ve been in this business a long time so I know what I’m doing” and “I’ve been in this business a long time and I can’t do this forever.”
Ramona is so consistently charming and personable that she rarely reveals any emotional scars that she more than likely has acquired after years of fending off the desires of powerful men- which I imagine is a story to which many women can relate. The story of getting up and performing night after night. The story of hiding your pain away. The story of enduring so much, having so little, and still being expected to smile and look your best. The story of being treated as an object, not to be celebrated but an object in service of someone else. That story has led Ramona’s character to care very little about the men who eventually become the victims of their con; a perfect contrast to Destiny who’s recently entered the game and finds it difficult to remove her empathy from the equation.
Following the 2008 financial crisis, there are less rich guys spending money in strip clubs and it puts a lot of the women out of work. Ramona eventually assembles a crew of women for a con where they seduce and drug wealthy men in order to get them to spend money in the club. The women then get a percentage of the money the club makes from the men.
Yes, what they are doing is morally reprehensible. Yes, it is criminal but Ramona’s rationale is sound. “These Wall Street guys. You see what they did to this country, they stole from everybody. Hardworking people lost everything; and not one of these douchebags went to jail. The game is rigged and it does not reward people who play by the rules.” she exclaims to Destiny. What the women are doing to these men is no different than what these men have done to all of us. The message here is “don’t hate the player, hate the game.” A game that everyone is playing. The difference is that crimes committed by poor people are more about survival while crimes committed by the powerful are more about greed (and they consistently go unpunished). Everyone is doing whatever it takes to survive, but not all hustlers are created equal.
HUSTLERS (2019)
DIRECTED by
Lorene Scafaria
SCREENPLAY by
Lorene Scafaria
Based on “The Hustlers at Scores” by Jessica Pressler
CAST
Constance Wu
Jennifer Lopez
Julia Stiles
Keke Palmer
Lili Reinhart
Lizzo
Cardi B
Crime/Drama/Thriller
RATED R
110 minutes
