Hustlers 2019 * * 1/2 Stars

Director: Lorene Scafaria
Year: 2019
Rated R
Rating: * * 1/2 Stars
Cast: Jennifer Lopez, Constance Wu, Julia Stiles

"The game is rigged and it does not reward people who play by the rules". So says the persona of Ramona Vega in 2019's Hustlers (my latest review). Vega is played by Jennifer Lopez who finds a role she can really sink her teeth into. This is one of the best performances of J.Lo's career and it's marginally better than the unadorned movie she is in.

Anyway, Hustlers is like a female version of Goodfellas and 2015's Black Mass (mixed with cult classic Showgirls). The only difference is that no one gets whacked, Paul Verhoeven doesn't slick it up, Joe Eszterhas isn't the writer, and there's nothing at all mob related.

The director of Hustlers (Lorene Scafaria) shoots the film in time lines (2007-2015) and A to B state of affairs that cut corners. Not really gritty and harnessed with non-elaborate production values, one would have wondered the outcome of Hustlers had famed director Martin Scorsese or Scott Cooper gotten behind the directorial wheel.

Filmed in New York City, based on a true story, and featuring an almost unrecognizable Constance Wu (this ain't Crazy Rich Asians people), Hustlers is about strip club employees who decide to drug Wall Street workers and then use their Platinum credit cards to rob them blind (it's pretty scary if you think about it).

In hindsight, my biggest problem with Hustlers is why should we root for these true-life, women pickpockets and why should their true accounts even be told. Heck, they don't actually do any time (spoiler) and their naive, Wall Street victims don't really get a shred of justice.

Bottom line: Despite some ample performances from a game cast and some decent, magic Michaelene strip sequences,  Hustlers is just another cinematic rise and fall (and rise) requiem. It unfortunately gets "hustled" itself. Rating: 2 and a half stars.

Written by Jesse Burleson