Review: Hustlers

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Get that money

Destiny (Constance Wu) is a dancer trying to make ends meet at a strip club when her fellow dancer, Ramona (Jennifer Lopez) takes her under her wing. They devise a scheme to take advantage of the Wall Street employees who frequent their clubs.

When I first saw the trailer for Hustlers, I wasn't interested. Then all the strong reviews at TIFF convinced me to go check it out and I have to say there was a good movie in there, but I still left expecting a lot more with the praise thrown at this. 

The most interesting aspect of this film to me is that Destiny is recounting her tale to a reporter, Elizabeth. (Julia Stiles) Since it deals with the 2008 financial crisis, that format almost makes this feel like The Big Short from another angle. But I kept thinking there must be more. Aside from Destiny, we really don't learn much about the other women in this story. They touch on sisterhood well, and but I wished they had spent more time on the fallout of this scheme. I felt like they gave the basic facts to get by.

Wu is great here. After seeing her in Crazy Rich Asians (I haven't seen her popular series, Fresh Off The Boat) we all know she could carry this. Jennifer Lopez is fine. Her athletic ability is more than impressive but I also felt I've seen this before. I'm not getting the Oscar buzz feel that everyone else is.

Ultimately, I think I fell victim to festival hype and reverted back to my initial expectations. This isn't a bad movie by any means, there's a lot of good things about it. I'm very happy for how successful it's been so far, it just wasn't outstanding. 

Recommended: Yes

Grade: B-

Memorable quote: "Motherhood is a mental illness." - Ramona (Jennifer Lopez)

Comments

  1. Candice FrederickSeptember 17, 2019 at 8:50 AM

    we do get some background on ramona in the end, though.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamSeptember 18, 2019 at 6:37 AM

      That's true, but I just wanted more reason to love this film like everyone else does. lol

      Delete
  2. Often Off TopicSeptember 17, 2019 at 10:05 AM

    Okay, I'm going to give this a shot. My cinema was showing the most annoying, choppy trailer for it but it's actually getting decent reviews!

    ReplyDelete
  3. BirgitSeptember 17, 2019 at 2:30 PM

    Love that quote! Hahahaaaa. I am not sure about this flick but i will see it once it is out on Video

    ReplyDelete
  4. thevoid99September 17, 2019 at 3:10 PM

    I'll wait for it on TV as I'm kind of skeptical for all of the festival hype about the film.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamSeptember 18, 2019 at 6:36 AM

      It's fun, but the praise just didn't hit me like it did everyone else, apparently.

      Delete
  5. JaySeptember 18, 2019 at 1:37 PM

    I saw this at TIFF and don't know where all the hype came from - most people felt pretty meh about it. It's fine. Maybe it's more watchable than we thought?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamSeptember 19, 2019 at 6:53 AM

      It's definitely fine but the way everyone was praising it, I went in expecting way more.

      Delete
  6. s.September 20, 2019 at 1:15 AM

    I heard so much praise for it so I will check it out but the trailer for it was so poorly made

    ReplyDelete
  7. DanielSeptember 24, 2019 at 9:17 AM

    I COMPLETELY agree. The buzz at TIFF was deafening, so I was really excited to see this when I got back, but it had been WAY over-hyped for me. It's good, but it's not great. I'm hard-pressed to find anything I disliked about it, but it just didn't match the hype. It's fine. J. Lo is good. Constance Wu is better. Cardi B is the best.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamSeptember 25, 2019 at 7:21 AM

      I'm glad I'm not the only one. Okay, Cardi B...I could not understand her lines. I don't know if I had a mini stroke or something during it but nothing made sense lol.

      Delete
  8. GeektellerSeptember 25, 2019 at 9:35 AM

    I'm very curious to see it, especially since it's been getting so much buzz. Will JLO actually be nominated? I wouldn't be surprised, the buzz definitely helps

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamSeptember 25, 2019 at 9:02 PM

      She certainly could be but she's just..fine. lol. It wouldn't be the first time "fine" earned an Oscar nomination.

      Delete

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