If you are looking for an empowering movie with strong female leads, Hustlers is the movie to see.
Let’s start with some background. Hustlers is a film about four strippers who work together at a club right before the financial crisis of 2008. The women, Ramona, Destiny, Annabelle, and Mercedes; group together and create the ultimate hustle of their time to survive the hard crash that their club was experiencing as customers began to dwindle. They planned to con upper-class men out of their money to buy them and their families a fresh start at life. As you can imagine, this plan quickly spins out of control and reaches drastic measures throughout the film.
In addition to an interesting plot, the directors could not have picked a more diverse, humorous, talented cast. The main cast includes Jennifer Lopez, Keke Palmer, Lili Reinhart, Constance Wu, and also included cameos from Lizzo and Cardi B. I appreciated the strong female leads, and also that the directors made an effort to choose a diverse group for the film. All of these women did an amazing job portraying the hardships that women go through in the sex industry, as well as portraying the importance of female friendships in every stage of life. One could feel the bond of all of these women throughout the film, regardless of their age, family status, or personal views.
This movie was anchored by Jennifer Lopez and her performance. She did an amazing job portraying Ramona and her will to survive in such a hard time, for not only herself but the whole group. She played the motherly role well and never seemed to be fearful of the consequences of their actions. She truly did an amazing job.
This film included many themes that I felt were so important to lives today, such as the importance of female friendship. The biggest example of this in the film would be the friendship shared between Ramona and Destiny. These two women have a bond throughout the movie that is moving, and in my opinion, is something that many would admire. Within every stage of the film, from before the crisis to the end of the plot, these two characters supported each other in almost every way possible. Even beyond their friendship, the whole group had a bond that was seemingly unbreakable in so many ways.
Some would also say that this film also portrays some negative themes, such as the criminal nature of the hustle, and the way that men were treated throughout the film. These people wouldn’t be wrong, those themes are negative and shouldn’t be ignored. However, I don’t believe the film intended to shed light on these themes. The majority of the film was focused on how the hustle bonded the women, rather than the act of conning itself. It portrays the hardships that these women were put through and how they made it through those trials as a group. I would even go as far as to say that this movie was more about these relationships and friendships than the hustle itself.
Overall, I would suggest this film as a film to watch this month. Its plot was interesting enough to want to see the ending, it keeps the audience laughing, and the cast did an amazing job diversely portraying each personality. Although the film portrays some hard realities of gendered lives and hardships in the workforce during a financial crisis such as the one in 2008, it was still a light, funny weekend watch. With a strong cast, plot, and theme, this movie has covered all of its bases.