Hustlers (2019) Review

"This city, this whole country, is a strip club.  You've got people tossing the money and people doing the dance."
-Ramona Vega



After the 2008 financial crisis, many Americans fall on hard times.  To get by, a group of strippers, led by Ramona Vega (Jennifer Lopez), team up to steal money from their rich, Wall Street clients.  They start off successful, but things quickly begin to spiral out of control.


What Works:

I was pretty shocked at how good this movie was.  It looked fun, but I wasn't expecting a ton from Hustlers.  This movie is a blast.  It's got great energy, a talented cast, and is simply a lot of fun, but doesn't shy away from the emotional moments either.  

Jennifer Lopez is the standout of the cast and does an amazing job as the leader of the group.  She has an impressive screen presence, a great character arc, and steals the show every time she is on screen.

The rest of the cast is pretty great too.  Almost everyone has their moment to shine and Constance Wu, Keke Palmer, and Lili Reinhart all have some really funny moments.  Palmer has one scene where she runs away from a hospital and I laughed more than I have in a long time.

This movie has a lot to say.  I was surprised to see Adam McKay produced the movie, but in hindsight it makes a lot of sense.  It has similarities to some of his other film; The Other Guys, The Big Short, and Vice and I can safely say I wasn't expecting that going into this.

I read a review of this movie online from Christy Lemire that called it Goodfellas in a g-string and that is the most accurate description I can think of.  Hustlers is the same movie as Goodfellas, just with strippers, and it works remarkably well.


What Sucks:

My only complaint of the film comes from Julia Stiles' character.  She plays a reporter that interviews Constance Wu's character years after the events of the film.  This story is composed of flashbacks and narrations with frequent cutting back to the interview  This is a trope I despise in movies because it usually takes some tension out of the film.  It's not too bad here, but the key problem comes from Stiles' wooden acting.  I've never been a fan of her and she pales in comparison to Constance Wu.


Verdict:

Apart from Julia Stiles, Hustlers is an awesome movie with a great cast, an exceptional performance from Jennifer Lopez, heavy emotions, and a lot of laughs.  Without a doubt, this movie has got it going on.

 9/10: Great  

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