Pain Hustlers

Based on true events, Pain Hustlers follows Emily Blunt’s Liza Drake as she becomes a pharmaceutical salesperson for a fledgling drug company and eventually finds herself forced to resort to shady tactics. Filmmaker David Yates, working from a screenplay by Wells Tower, delivers an exceedingly familiar yet consistently watchable drama that benefits from its compelling subject matter and top-notch performances, as, in terms of the latter, Yates elicits compelling, commanding work from his leads that effectively elevates the proceedings on a recurring basis – with Blunt’s first-class efforts certainly matched by costars Chris Evans and Andy Garcia. And although the whole thing generally tends to unfold as one might’ve anticipated, to the extent where is often feels as though scripter Tower is working from a template for stories of this ilk, Pain Hustlers’ briskly-paced narrative, which has been augmented with a handful of energizing sequences, paves the way for a solid midsection and satisfying third act – with the end result a mostly stirring ripped-from-the-headlines tale that fares surprisingly well.

*** out of ****