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Synopsis:
In the hilarious new comedy THE HUSTLE, Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson star as female scam artists, one low rent and the other high class, who team up to take down the dirty rotten men who have wronged them.
When you think of Anne Hathaway, you would probably describe her as elegant, multitalented, well-grounded, and iconic. When you think of Rebel Wilson, you would probably describe her as quirky, confident, hilarious, and down-to-earth. Put them together and you would assume that this dynamic duo will deliver an exhilarating performance of comedy proportions, right? Well, not so much.
Following in the footsteps of other gender-swap remakes such as Ghostbusters and Ocean’s 8, The Hustle is a tale of two female con artists – one who is more refined in this cunning art, the other not so much – which was inspired by the original 1988-film Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. The plot unfolds with a similar twist in which the two frenemies, Josephine Chesterfield (Anne Hathaway) and Penny Rust (Rebel Wilson), eventually find themselves trying to pull a fast one over on an unsuspecting man.
In the end, this movie was, well… not very good. It only succeeds because of the efforts Hathaway and Wilson put into their character roles. These ladies are stellar actresses and made this cheap remake somehow work with their ruthless attitudes, their funny schemes, and even some few heartwarming moments here and there. But because of an “eh” script, this comedy had many jokes that just fell flat for me. I felt that this movie played it safe with the humor to the point that it felt super basic. Though it made the screening group I was in laugh-out-loud multiple times throughout the movie – which, by the way, good for them – I personally did not chuckle more than a couple of times which I was really disappointed about. I had high expectations of laughing hysterically all night long and I didn’t get that.
Also, The Hustle tries to send a somewhat feminist message where these women team up and “take down the dirty rotten men who have wronged them”, but its execution was a bit sloppy. I mean, the targetted rich men in this movie were RIDICULOUSLY gullible so it really was not that exciting to watch them get tricked and wooed by Josephine and Penny. Because of that, they really did not have much of a solution to offer regarding how we can handle sexism in modern society.
Thankfully, the audience will more than likely see past the film’s flaws and have a good time watching these characters go at it as they try to out-con the other.
My score: ★★½/5
Catch The Hustle in theaters coming out this Friday, May 5th.[/vc_column_text][vc_video link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Of52MNnXoxU” align=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row]
probably at the movies.
