Review: Hustlers

Release date: September 13, 2019
Running time: 109 minutes
Starring:  Constance Wu, Jennifer Lopez, Julia Stiles 

Hustlers tells the true story of a group of strippers turned friends turned grifters who decide to take advantage of wealthy wall street types.  What starts as a harmless embarrassment soon spirals into something much worse.  As the Hustle grows, so do the challenges and consequences these women face.  

This film stars Jennifer Lopez and Constance Wu in roles that are very different from what they've done before.  Wu takes a complete 180 from her Crazy Rich Asians character, to play a sweet but capable stripper /grifter.  Lopez plays the alpha of the group; a strong, confident, but brash leader of the pack.  Together they make a good pair although I didn't love Wu's character at the start.  She seemed way too naive and had some awkward dialog or lack there of.  Lopez however is at her finest; when she's on screen, she is the clear focal point!  The rest of the cast does a good job of supporting these leading ladies, with some notable performances by Cardi B and Lili Reinhart.  

The story moves at a decent pace, starting slowly but speeding up as the Hustle grows.  But the slow pace at the start does a good job of introducing you to the characters and humanizing them.  You really get to know the main characters and their motivations.  However, this film does suffer from some less than stellar writing.  Some of the dialogue is corny and a lot of Wu's dialogue at the start feels like it's missing.  There are moments where she has a conversation with Lopez and says absolutely nothing, which was very distracting. And although Lopez is a strong female lead, sometimes her dialog is overdone.  Additionally, the film does glorify some pretty ridiculous crimes with an us or them mentality.  

But if you can get past these issues, Hustlers provides an unreal story about some slick and sexy women.  It is a female wolf of wall street, with a decent amount of craziness, high risk scams, and strong personalities.  

Watch it