The Hustle Review
PG-13: Crude sexual content and language
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, United Artists Releasing
1 Hr and 33 Minutes
Director: Chris Addison | Screenwriter: Jac Schaeffer
Cast: Anne Hathaway, Rebel Wilson, Alex Sharp, Dean Norris, Tim Blake Nelson
Release Date: May 10th 2019
Josephine Chesterfield (Hathaway) is a glamorous, seductive Brit with a sprawling home in Beaumont-sur-Mer and a penchant for defrauding gullible wealthy men from all corners of the world. Into her well-ordered, meticulously moneyed world bursts Penny Rust (Wilson), an Aussie who is as free-form and fun-loving as Josephine is calculated and cunning. Where Penny amasses wads of cash by ripping off her marks in neighborhood bars, Josephine fills her safe with massive diamonds after ensnaring her prey in glitzy casinos. Despite their different methods, both are masters of the art of the fleece so they con the men that have wronged women. Wilson's talent for physicality and Hathaway's withering wit are a combustible combination as the pair of scammers pull out all the stops to swindle a naïve tech billionaire (Alex Sharp).
First thing’s first: I’ve never seen Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, the film that The Hustle is a remake of, so I’m judging this on its own merits. As a studio comedy, there is some fun to be had.
As the opening title sequence occurs, the audience is treated to a 2D cut out animated sequence of Hathaway and Wilson fighting in a Spy vs. Spy style.
But instead of killing each other, they’re just trying to out-scheme the other and grab the loot from the men they can extort, teasing the kind of movie that is about to be presented.
The reason I broke down that animated sequence is because, believe it or not, The Hustle is a cartoon. The movie is very comical in an old-school sense where it’s filled with an abundant and consistent amount of gags - whether physical, visual, or verbal - that do garner some laughs.
The story is mostly focused on Penny (Wilson) who finds herself under Josephine’s (Hathaway) wing, and it becomes a competition as they try to out-con others. Some of the jokes land due to the war that bubbles out of the leads. Just seeing Rebel Wilson running cons around Hathaway is funny and the movie succeeds because of it. Some gags tend to overstay their welcome and some end with a well-delivered punchline, and those punchlines did have me rolling. Most of the comical elements are very prominent in the animation world and it works because of the timing - mostly with the physical gags. When they are one-upping each other the film is fun, and when Alex Sharp comes to play around the midpoint as this innocent and sweet tech millionaire who becomes their mark, the jokes become much funnier. The longer the feud between Penny and Josephine goes on, the better the laughs get as Sharp balances them out.
Believe it or not, at a certain point you root for Wilson because she’s essentially the underdog you can actually resonate with (even though her arc is literally the same as in Isn’t It Romantic).
These Rebel Wilson vehicles are progressively getting better. It’s a shame we peaked in February. Isn’t it Romantic provided a meaningful, satirical story outside of Wilson’s self-deprecating shtick and she pulled her obnoxious behavior way back. I felt this would be an opportunity for Wilson to display range in her comedy.
Since this is Wilson’s movie, as opposed to a duo buddy comedy, the film relies on her doing that same ol’ physical comedy and self-deprecating humor we’re accustomed to. When you have a comedian delivering their signature shtick, you know what that means! The writers got:
It’s a shame that the only name in my initial press notes under the screenwriter credits was Jac Schaeffer, who is the showrunner of the upcoming WandaVision series for Disney+, but when the movie plays through you see 4 names (all from the men behind Dirty Rotten Scoundrels). So, how did this just shoot mediocrity? While I did initially have fun with the second half where it gets more cartoonish, the first 35 minutes were frustratingly excruciating.
The first half of The Hustle doesn’t really abide by a story as it’s mostly just a set of vignettes of gags stringed loosely on a thread. When Alex Sharp arrives, the story begins and that’s around 45 minutes in. Some of the humor in the first half works, but the majority of it is painful and hampered by the rapid, lazy ad libbing from Wilson. Though she is thankfully pulled back here, her shtick is already way too familiar, for she’s done this in previous roles. We’ve seen her do pratfalls and make self-deprecating jokes one too many times in the Pitch Perfect franchise, which everyone is already familiar with, so why do you think those jokes would be fresh here?
Then, you have Anne Hathaway delivering an over-the-top British accent which wears thin after a while considering her talent. For some reason both actresses are just never on the same wavelength with their performances, where one is acting so broadly and the other is doing the same ol’ comfortable material. The lack of effort between the two is a major detriment to the dynamic when it comes to them being at each other’s throats… well, at least for the first half.
Just seeing Wilson go from something that I find truly incredible to the same ol’ shit is frustrating. Not fully annoying, but frustrating. Even her character’s arc is a lesser retread of Isn’t it Romantic, for Alex Sharp becomes her romantic interest and you can predict where it goes from there. Thankfully, when he comes in, the thread of a story becomes present, but then it dies out because of a running joke about Penny being blind that is slightly offensive for how far they take it.
The Hustle prospers from its cartoonish comedic gags, but it’s overly meandering and mediocre execution makes this con artist comedy literally go for broke.
Rating: 2.5/5 | 51%
