Hustlers

Stripping, sanitized.

It’s based on a real story by journalist Jessica Pressler, but there is nothing real about this feel-good movie, directed and written by Lorene Scafaria, about strippers who decide to take their unsuspecting lap dancing clients to the cleaners.

We’re in New York before the financial crisis of 2008 and the girls are making good money. Destiny (Constance Wu) is new to the biz. All she wants to do is take care of her grandma in Queens (yawn). She learns the ropes from alpha female Ramona (Jennifer Lopez) and they make a killing catering to the men who go to clubs to see women writhe. But then their clients bring the entire world down with their subprime mortgages and the girls struggle to make ends meet until they devise a plan to get even.

What could be a sharp satire about capitalism, the crash of 2008, and the gender wars, or a realistic look at this form of female employment is a too conventional story of sisters doing it for themselves. It’s disappointing, since the producers are Adam McKay and Will Ferrell, who have hit their stride with a series of strong satirical movies about greed and power, and Succession, currently the best show on TV. Sadly, Hustlers seems to have been conceived with lower standards in mind. In lieu of sharp observation, we get endless sappy scenes of female solidarity. The movie doesn’t have the guts to take a stand, feminist…