Hustlers

A rare misfire from Lorene Scafaria, Hustlers follows several strippers (including Constance Wu’s Destiny and Jennifer Lopez’s Ramona) as they band together to steal money from their sleazy Wall Street clients. Filmmaker Scafaria, working from her own screenplay, delivers a persistently generic drama that contains few elements designed to capture and sustain the viewer’s interest – with the hands-off atmosphere compounded by Wu’s oddly (and palpably) charisma-free turn as the central character. The ensuing lack of an entry point makes it increasingly difficult to work up the slightest bit of interest in or sympathy for the various protagonists’ exploits, and it’s clear, too, that the picture’s paint-by-numbers sensibilities paves the way for a narrative that’s almost entirely lacking in surprising (or even interesting) plot twists (ie the movie often seems to have emerged directly from a template for rise-and-fall crime dramas) – with the end result an occasionally passable yet mostly tedious endeavor that ultimately squanders several strong performances (Lopez is typically impressive here, for sure).

** out of ****