Hustlers

I didn’t initially have a lot of interest in seeing Hustlers but several people whose opinions I value recommended it very highly to me so I decided to see it last night.  I'm glad that I took a chance on this movie because it is much better than I was expecting.  Dorothy (Constance Wu), who takes the stage name Destiny, is working at a strip club to support her infirm grandmother but she is barely getting by.  She turns to veteran stripper Ramona (Jennifer Lopez) who coaches her on how to get better tips.  She begins making a lot more money but, more importantly, she and Ramona become close friends.  Everything changes when the financial crisis of 2008 happens and both Destiny and Ramona become desperate to make money.  Ramona comes up with the idea of luring wealthy Wall Street traders into the club, drugging them with a mixture of ketamine and ecstasy, and running up their credit cards to the limit.  Destiny and strippers Mercedes (Keke Palmer) and Annabelle (Lili Reinhart) join her and they all become fabulously wealthy until it all falls apart.  This movie is a true story based on a 2015 New York Times article called "The Hustlers at Scores" so there is a framing device of having a reporter (Julia Stiles) interview the strippers in 2014 with flashbacks to the past.   What I really loved about this movie is that it has a powerful message about friendship and female empowerment.  While there are a few fun shopping montages, both Ramona and Destiny are ultimately trying to improve the lives of their daughters so that they will have more choices than they did.  I also found the biting social commentary to be very interesting (it reminded me a lot of The Big Short).  The women justify what they are doing by saying that these corrupt Wall Street bigwigs have fleeced Americans for years with their unscrupulous policies so they are just trying to get some of the money back.  It's hard not to root for them to succeed!  Finally, the performances are great!  Wu is incredibly affecting, especially when her conscience begins to bother her, but Lopez gives a tour-de-force performance that is definitely one of her best (it has already generated some Oscar buzz).  Cardi B and Lizzo have some fun cameos as strippers as does Usher who plays himself.  I would recommend this movie with the proviso that it does earn its R rating with quite a bit of nudity, sexuality, (the characters are strippers who dance provocatively) drug use, and language.