Hustler was a great movie that was written, directed, and acted well. I went to this movie because there was really nothing else playing and I needed to spend my free ticket before it expired. All I have to say is that I’m glad I did!
ACTING PERFORMANCE
This movie features an all-star cast. Jennifer Lopez and Constance Wu play their roles perfectly and very convincingly. Lopez, studied for only a few months on the pole and looks extremely graceful. And in my opinion, J-lo never looked so good. I still can’t believe she’s fifty. Really? Wow.
GRADE: A
DIRECTING
Hustlers is based upon the true-life story of a group of strippers who drugged their clients to run up their credit cards. The movie tells the journey of these white-collar criminals, how they got there, and how greed destroyed themselves and their friendships.
What makes the directing in this movie rather brilliant is that it’s not as over-sexualized or obscene as it could be, given the storylines revolve around the adult industry. Yes, there is nudity in here, and there are references to sex, but it’s not over-the-top
There were definitely a few parts in this story that I think went a far too overboard with J-Lo and her crew doing the Superhero walk into the club. And there were a few too many slow-motion montages where there was no conflict that made the story drag a little. That’s one of the reasons why I can’t give Hustlers a perfect grade.
GRADE: B
THE SCRIPT
I was pretty impressed by the way this story was told because it was narrated through the perspective of the antagonist, Destiny, played by Constance Wu.
The story was also very fluid. In the first Act, Destiny was the protagonist, poor, a victim of society and filthy men, and bullied by strippers. She eventually becomes worse than the men who abused her, drugging them and committing credit card fraud to enrich herself.
There are not many stories that are told through the eyes of the antagonist. What About Bob is probably one of the most genius/under-appreciated scripts that accomplished this task extremely well.
ENNEAGRAM CHARACTER BREAKDOWN
I’ll breakdown the two main characters of Hustlers, Destiny and Ramona.
RAMONA “J-Lo” Type Eight “Challenger”
Type Eights are your natural-born leaders. Often they are your Type A personalities, confident, and can often be confrontational. When they are at their best, they lead those who are in need of help, sometimes through encouragement, quite often by tough love that can seem abusive, even “un-loving” if there is such a word.
Eights also tend to bend the rules. If there’s a law, they interpret it as a guideline with gray areas to operate in. Their worst quality? They’re flat out – selfish.
In fiction, the most recognizable Type Eight would be Wolverine or Deadpool.
Destiny “Constance Wu” Type 9 “Peacekeeper”
Type Nines are often consumed with every type of fear from every personality type, and because of this, often retreat when confronted. They’ll find every excuse in the book not to go forward. They don’t fight back when bullied, they don’t stand up for themselves, they don’t take promotions, they can easily turn into a recluse if they’re not careful.
It’s very easy for Type Nines to fall under the influence of a Type Eight Challenger, to become one of their reluctant loyalists, following them even against their will because they feared conflict. They can seem like a Type Six Loyalist, who would tend to follow a leader blindly, but a Type Nine will never be a blind loyalist. Once they control their fear, they can easily make the decision to walk away.
Destiny took in on the chin quite often throughout the movie by a lot of characters, including Ramona. In the end, when she did decide to stand up for herself, she sold Ramona out, betraying the trust of their friendship, giving in to the pressure of the journalist. Ramona, on the other hand, didn’t spill the beans and only had good things to say about Destiny.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Hustler is a very good movie. There’s Oscar buzz surrounding it at the moment. Does it deserve an Academy Award? Who knows. Movies that I love never win the Oscar. Heck, I think Top Gun deserves the Best Movie of the Year Award.
This movie is worth the watch, and if you haven’t figured it out yet, don’t take the kids.
OVERALL GRADE: A
Steve Young
