Hustlers
Pupule rating: 3.0 (out of 4)
Regal Dole Cannery
The general consensus between me and longtime movie fan @fatlark when we walked out of the theater: grown men doing foolish things at strip clubs deserve what they get. But how much do we root for women who drug these foolish men, and take all the money in their business accounts? If they're raking in huge sums of moola while the rest of the country is struggling in a recession, does that make it fair? I wouldn't say this was Robin Hood rationale.
If there was an edited cut of Jennifer Lopez's scenes in Hustlers, I'd watch it without regret. It's the rest of this story, convoluted, unbelievable and frankly missing something crucial, that leaves me wondering. There's a scene smack dab in the middle of it, a Christmas party at J-Lo's condo. A 12-foot Christmas tree. High ceilings. Just the crew of credit card scammers, and as they sing and dance with their young children and popo (grandma) enjoying their lush presents, it had a Wonderful World of Walt Disney vibe.
Of course, the reality of scamming Wall Street brass, middlemen and low-on-the-totem-pole wannabes has its consequences eventually. This plot skims over all the ups and downs of Francesca Wu's character, but doesn't dare take that extra step. What about her grandma? What exactly is it she loves so much about her? By making this more about two lead characters — J-Lo is so gorgeous and strong, it's really impossible to ignore her impact — we lose what could have been. When Wu's river of tears flow after finding popo lifeless in the living room, we don't know enough about them. It was more of tell than a show, and this movie missed an opportunity to show us why Wu — who at one brief point in the story was studying nights for her college degree, but never returned to it for some bizarre reason — could get away with handing popo huge wads of cash every week.
Popo wasn't innocent or ignorant. But she tolerates the life her grand-daughter lives? She doesn't ask questions? Doesn't sound like a Chinese grandma to me.
This movie was entertaining, not because of the strip-club nude shots or cleavage. It was J-Lo's show, and she got to shine many of the facets of her acting skills. I'll give the story this: when it all hit the fan, it hit hard. Some of it didn't make sense, but still worth seeing.
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