When The Wolf of Wall Street was released in 2013, it documented the glamorous swindle of employees ripping off poor suckers through inflated stocks and high pressure sales tactics. The men lived hedonistic lifestyles and treated it all like a game, because everyone was in on it and nobody wanted to miss out. Turning the gender and victims around is Hustlers, based on the New York magazine article “The Hustlers at Scores” by Jessica Pressler. Directed by Lorene Scafaria and starring Constance Wu (Crazy Rich Asians) Jennifer Lopez and an ensemble cast of Cardi B, Lizzo, Lili Reinhart and Keke Palmer, it weaves together sisterhood, mummy/daughter issues and good ol’ fashioned American crime drama.
In 2014 Dorothy (Wu) recounts to a journalist how she went from working as a normal stripper named Destiny in New York to being mentored by her estranged friend Ramona (Lopez). Destiny struggles to support her ailing grandmother but is determined to get by. Mesmerised by Ramona’s performance and ability to collect the highest tips, she soon learns from the best in the business and the pair share a close friendship of wealth and excess. Unlike The Wolf of Wall Street which focused heavily on the dot com bubble, the playhouse of the noughties comes crashing down with the global financial crisis of 2008. Finding themselves cash strapped and with tight clients, the ladies lose touch and Destiny is left to be a struggling young mother with a daughter in tow.
After a few mild attempts to land modest retail jobs, necessity forces her back to the club. She reunites with Ramona, and the pair pick it up right where they left off, as Lopez’s maternal ways coax Destiny into getting on-board a new scheme. In a hilarious scene, the two look like glamorous housewives off a Martha Stewart special as they dabble with their new taste creation, a potent mixture of ketamine and MDMA. As they sign up a sisterhood of girls to do their bidding on the streets, the girls lace their target’s drink with the substance and the sucker is too embarrassed to admit his fleecing by a stripper.
As strippers who lure in sleazy Wall Street employees, they steal from the rich, who as justified by Ramona steal from people everyday and nobody thinks twice about it. It’s restorative justice for some ladies, but for Destiny, the void left by an absent mother places her in a unique albeit unconventional family. Ramona’s mother hen antics are manipulative and her optimism about not getting caught allows blunders and plot holes to seep through, but overall Jennifer Lopez’s rough exterior but soft around the edges persona is definitely a performance worth buying into. Her determination to make the most of out of her situation and to jump straight back into doing what she does best makes her a standout in the cast. You’d be forgiven for forgetting she’s 50, as her sleek, athletic dancer body exudes her fitness and skill with the role.
A romp that’s worth inviting the ladies to.
Verdict: 7.5/10
Roadshow Films
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