Hustlers! I had this on my list based solely on the cast (YAS leading ladies in a rainbow of beautiful skin colors!) I don’t think I even saw a trailer until the week before. But you know, September is slow. What else was I gonna see this weekend?
Jennifer Lopez, Constance Wu, and a slew of other gorgeous and powerful ladies work at a strip club. But when the recession hits and the tips stop paying out, they turn to hustling and scamming the Wall Street guys they once had wrapped around their glittery little fingers.
I’ll admit the story was rather fascinating. Under less capable hands, it could have been very thin and predictable. This story went deeper, while still bringing the fun of the club. I’d put it somewhere on the fun scale between Magic Mike and Magic Mike XXL. We’ve got the drama, but with just enough of the party.
JLo is a goddess. I’ve come to appreciate her more and more in recent years and she commands this screen. It is HER movie. But what makes me happiest about that is having a Latina woman in a leading role that’s a truly complex character. You can’t describe her in any one way and she doesn’t fit into any single box. She’s got complicated motives and very human personality traits. You know, the way the dudes are often written and no one bats an eye.
Oh it’s worth noting, Cardi B and Lizzo are in this movie and on the billboards across town. They’ve only got about 6 minutes of screentime between them. It’s wonderful screentime which elicited a lot of hoots and hollers from the crowd, but if they’re why you’re seeing this movie, just be aware you won’t see much of them.
Hustlers – \m/ \m/ \m/ \n