HUSTLERS (2019) Review

Have you ever thought to yourself: “wow, this movie is good, but there’s something missing, and it’s Jennifer Lopez taking off her fur coat to dance to Criminal by Fiona Apple”? Well, I’m here to tell you that the movie we have all craved has arrived. Lorene Scafaria proves brilliance in filmmaking still exists in her scandalous and star-studded portrayal of women stealing from men, who steal from everyone. It is a complicated tale, but that doesn’t mean hesitation is in any way seeping through the cracks; the comedic, emotional, and dramatic elements of this narrative blend together without missing a beat, and standout scenes and moments are too plentiful to count. There is something so beautiful and inspiring about women dancing to “Love in This Club” in piles of cash, happy as ever, in front of the horniest R&B artist of all time.

Based on the incredible true story, HUSTLERS depicts the experience of exotic dancer Destiny (Constance Wu), and her rather turbulent and emotional relationship with her co-worker and conspirator, Ramona (Jennifer Lopez). When Destiny finds herself at the bottom of the pole, she turns to Ramona to help her with her stage presence. As the two become closer and the inevitable 2008 market crashes, they and their band of former-strippers need to find better ways to earn money in a post-Wall Street world; stakes get higher and relationships get tested as Destiny and Ramona try to play to their strengths.

In one unrelenting introductory shot, Lorene Scafaria sets up an entire world many of us have never seen before, and lets us temporarily live in it. The camera follows Destiny from the club change room, follows her she parades in succession with the other dancers, panning every so often as if pre-occupied with the keen observers in their leather seats, then finally finishes with a passively racist beckon. In this one shot, Scafaria shows us everything we need to know about Wu’s character before she meets Ramona: she’s a nervous new girl with something to prove. It’s this meticulous camera-work, paired with incredible sound design and performances, that proves integral to telling a story with these themes.

Not only is it completely engaging, it is also ridiculously affecting. Scafaria ensures we feel the emotion, as if we have as much at stake as Destiny and Ramona – and as the tone starts to shift, the viewer is as much in an emotionally declining situation as Destiny. What could’ve easily been a sole recounting of the club’s drastic changes after 2008 is actually a tour of the club we have seen in an energetic and euphoric light, but now with a radically different energy; as a viewer, my heart sinks: we’ve seen how this place has helped Destiny grow and prosper. These choices corroborate that Scafaria knows the gravity of her story-telling, and her inventive direction only works to keep the tone as threatening and authentic as their LV stilettos.

To tie it all together, HUSTLERS is complete with the most diversely talented cast; not one actress is off beat or miscast. Even the lesser experienced on the screen – Lizzo, Cardi B, Lili Reinhart, and Keke Palmer – are all played to their strengths; and while they are varying in the degrees of their roles, they are certainly not to be seen as just background players (Lizzo's out-of-breath screaming of “Motherfucking Usher, BICTH!” might be the best delivery of a line all year). Reinhart and Palmer never fail in their comedic dialogue and subsequent delivery, and are major in the delivering the immeasurable group chemistry surrounding our two leads. Lopez and Wu work so well together, that from the moment JLo’s Ramona beckons to Destiny to “get in my fur, baby” you have no choice than to be irrevocably hooked on their harmony. We go from watching them side-by-side strut on their way to ruin another man’s irrelevant credit to being lost in a heart-wrenching final scene.

HUSTLERS works because the people behind it cared deeply about the outcome, and it shows. The technological aspects are profoundly thorough and successfully meticulous; the characters are handled with precision and fostered beautifully by the actresses to match the tone. For a film that has strong influence from classic consequential filmmakers (Scafaria talks of Scorsese's influence on her work here), HUSTLERS is very much its own thing - a ballad of powerful women with complex relationships and real feelings making fools of men.

Jade

Score: 9/10