Hustlers (2019, R)

Sometimes, comparisons between unrelated movies come into my head and I’m unable to shake those notions. Watching this film, I thought, “I bet this is the kind of movie that Ocean’s 8 wanted to be.” That maybe isn’t fair to Ocean’s 8, but it’s what came to mind when I saw Hustlers. While I enjoyed the former in spite of itself somewhat, the latter is just a great movie.

Inspired by a true story, Hustlers follows a group of New York strippers who decide to take matters into their own hands. Following the Wall Street crash of 2008, the recession of course hits everywhere, but these women have it particularly hard, since most of their best-paying clientele were finance guys who imploded in the crash. The group, led by Ramona and Destiny, concoct a scheme to take men who broke the economy and got away unscathed, and milk them for all they’re worth.

Just a great film all around. Both engaging and entertaining, populated by characters who do plenty of bad things for some sympathetic reasons. You don’t exactly root for them in their crimes – while some of what they do is highly understandable, other elements of the operation really give you pause – but you’re invested in seeing where this journey takes them. I love, the ingenuity they bring to developing their scheme, the way they roll with the punches of complications that arise, and how the relationships between them change as they get in deeper and deeper.

I really like a lot of the little details about the ins and outs of being a stripper. There’s the exploitation, of course (the predatory owners who skim the women’s earnings, the casual insults and demands they hear from patrons,) but there’s a lot more, showing numerous sides of that line of work. Some of these details include the hassles of dating life (jealous boyfriends, wanting to do anything other than be sexy on your night off) and the tools of the trade (I love the scene of Ramona tutoring Destiny on various moves on the pole, followed by a scene of another woman teaching her the finer points of the lap dance.)

Even better, though, are the complex relationships between the major characters. At the head of the pack are Destiny and Ramona – their relationship is many things, and no matter what direction the film takes it in, it’s always powerful. But really, the whole group is great, a kind of found family who care about and look out for each other but who also argue, disagree, and let each other down. All my favorite scenes in the movie involve these central relationships, nothing more or less than depictions of the closeness between them.

Fine cast, headed by Constance Wu as Destiny and Jennifer Lopez as Ramona. Both are excellent individually and even better together, lighting up the screen in their shared scenes. Rounding out the main crew is Keke Palmer (who I previously knew best as the title character in Akeelah and the Bee, so she’s grown up a lot since then!) and Lili Reinhart (Betty Cooper herself,) and Julia Stiles plays a supporting role as the reporter who wrote the article that inspired the film.

Warnings

Sexual content (including nudity,) language, drinking/smoking/drug use, and thematic elements.