All-American - Hustlers
There are certain ideas that feel uniquely American. Pickup trucks, the Superbowl, BBQ. The list could go on and on. If it did, it wouldn’t be long before you got to greed. To be clear, unbridled conquest can be found in every culture, but there is something patently American about the decoupling of pursuit and consequences. That is the world that formed Hustlers’ protagonists. A world where running people over to get ahead is par for the course. More than anything, the story at the heart of Hustlers is the American dream and all its accompanying wins and losses.
Hustlers is told through the eyes of Destiny (played by Constance Wu) as she bounces in an out of the world of exotic dancing. When we meet her, she is a new dancer who is frustrated by her lack of earnings. When she sees Ramona Vega (played brilliantly by Jennifer Lopez) own a crowd and rake in the money, she wants to learn how. Intrigued by her, Ramona takes her under her wing and teaches her how to maximize her potential. The two make heaps of money together until the financial crisis of 2008 changes everything.
When the economy tanked, Dorothy and Ramona went their separate ways and tried to do other jobs to make money. When that failed, Ramona hatched an idea to seduce, drug and rob men. When a chance encounter brings Destiny back into her world, they team up to professionalize this operation and start to make serious money. But things quickly get out of control when they start stealing larger sums and men start getting more seriously hurt.
Jennifer Lopez has been one of the most famous people on the planet for over two decades. That fame has seen her wax and wane through various parts of our music and movie landscapes with success few can match. In this role, which seems custom made for her unique talents, she truly shines. In every scene she is in, it is hard not to be taken by what she is doing. Beyond her beauty, there is a physicality to this performance that is at once subtle and overwhelming. Like a triple shot expresso, she is doing so much with so little.
Buy beyond the brilliance of J-Lo, the film manages to be the very best version of itself. Borrowing influences from timeless classics like Goodfellas, Lorene Scafaria’s film is a heist movie of the highest order. But because her sensibilities are not drawn to the violence, or even the surface sexuality of the story’s setting, the film maintains a certain compassion for its characters that might otherwise be lost. This is, at bottom, a platonic love story between Destiny and Ramona. Scafaria deserves all the credit in the world for not distracting from that fact. For all of the brilliant musical cues and moments of levity, the film moves with a certain force that makes it feel complete.
Daniel Day Lewis in There Will Be Blood. Michael Douglas in Wall Street. Jennifer Lopez in Hustlers. That is the class this turn belongs in. It was a pleasure to watch someone so accurately capture Americana, and it was a pleasure to watch the film not stand in her way.
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