The Hustle

A remake of 1988’s Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (which was itself a remake), The Hustle follows con artists Josephine (Anne Hathaway) and Penny (Rebel Wilson) as they reluctantly team up to swindle a wealthy app developer (Alex Sharp’s Thomas). There’s little doubt that The Hustle gets off to a somewhat less-than-promising start, as filmmaker Chris Addison places a rather aggressive emphasis on Penny’s frustratingly over-the-top (and decidedly unfunny) comedic exploits – with Wilson’s completely unhinged and broad approach to the material ensuring that much of the picture’s first act is nigh unwatchable. It’s clear, then, that the movie improves substantially once Sharp’s character enters the proceedings, as scripters Stanley Shapiro, Paul Henning, Dale Launer, and Jac Schaeffer stress the protagonists’ agreeable efforts at conning their affable mark – with the majority of these sequences lifted directly from (the vastly superior) Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (ie the film’s good vibes can be partially attributed to its ongoing similarities to its predecessor, ultimately). The nothing-special-yet-basically-palatable atmosphere does, in the end, confirm The Hustle‘s place as a decent-enough comedy, although given the pedigree of its forebear, it’s impossible not to walk away from the picture feeling more than a little disappointed.

**1/2 out of ****