HUSTLERS

HUSLTERS – Since trying it in a class a decade ago, I’ve said pole dancing should be an Olympic sport, it’s very athletic and requires an enormous amount of fitness and training. The competitors would have to change up on the uniform, lose the thong and heels, allow men to compete, but otherwise, it has my vote, especially when someone as graceful and perfectly toned as Jennifer Lopez is the top competitor. 

However,  the movie “Hustlers” is so much more than a light romp of pretty women pole dancing, while running an extortion ring.  Female writer/director Lorene Scafaria has created a movie with some meat to it (no pun intended) she avoids romanticizing the strip-club scene, while still showing a more glamorous view than say, Marisa Tomei in “The Wrestler”. And also finds some humor, like the scene with Usher in the Club, that was hilarious! They looked like a team of superheroes gathered for battle. 

But the majority of the movie is about friendship, survival, and turning the tables on a system that deserved to be flipped. Destiny (Constance Wu) is a young woman working at an upscale New York strip club in 2007, she was raised by her grandmother who is older now with low to no income. Destiny wants to take care of her the best she can, so dancing seems to be the fastest way to make steady money. Only she’s not very good at it, the pole or lap dancing. She’s in awe of a more seasoned dancer Ramona (JLo) and seeks her out after a spectacular performance one night.  Ramona takes Destiny under her wing and teaches her more than moves, she teaches her how to read these men and control them in ways they don’t even realize. Nothing illegal at this point, just empowerment – treat it all like a business transaction, rather than a seedy job.  Lopez is outstanding in this role. Bringing you back to her performances in “Selena” and “Out of Sight” rather than the horrific “The Wedding Planner”, “Maid in Manhattan”, “Monster-in-Law” or her recent, my choice for worse film of 2018 “Second Act”.

The other girls at the club also become like family to Destiny – Mercedes (Keke Palmer), Annabelle (Lili Reinhart) and both Cardi B as Diamond and Lizzo as Liz are just awesome at pretty much playing themselves. Along with a hollowed out, shriveled Mercedes Ruehl, as the Den Mother of the group, when did she age so much?

Everything is going good until the bottom falls out of the housing market, the big financial bubble of 2009, which fu*k us all, and yet those on Wall Street who caused the crisis never had to pay a penalty.  Well, a few guys did according to writer Jessica Pressler’s New York magazine article “The Hustlers at Scores” (published in December 2015), these strippers, lead by Ramona, figured out a way to drug and lure these guys, who no longer frequented the Club after the crash, to come back and rack up thousands on their credit cards, soon eliminating the Club part altogether and meeting them in hotels and their homes while still debiting their credit cards.  Adam McKay (“The Big Short” & “Vice”) is an Executive Producer and you can see his style in some of this, but certainly it’s Lorene who adds the heart and keeps it from being predictable. There is a section that drags a bit in the 2^nd act, but certainly picks up again when things go awry.

Christy Lemire of RogerEbert.com writes: “It’s Goodfellas in a G-string”  “Scafaria leans a bit too heavily into classic Scorsese filmmaking tactics: the matter-of-fact narration describing the scam, her use of slow motion and zooms to heighten the emotion of a moment, the pop, rock and R&B soundtrack ranging from Janet Jackson and Britney Spears to Bob Seger and The Four Seasons, with Chopin sprinkled throughout. (Her long, opening tracking shot—from a dressing room, through a hallway, onto the stage, down the stairs and out into the crowd”—

Perhaps she’s right, but hey, if you can pull off some Scorsese shots and make it look and feel right, what’s wrong with that?

T&T @LAMB rating: 3.5 outta 5