Movie Review – The Hustle

This isn’t my kind of movie under the best of circumstances. I’m not a light comedy person unless I happen to flip pass Billy Wilder’s Some Like It Hot (1959) on a Saturday afternoon. That said, The Hustle was both funny and charming, and I think it was something I absolutely needed after a hard day.

Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson star as two experienced grifters bent on the score for the sake of the score. Lonnie (Wilson) and Josephine (Hathaway) cross paths on a train to the French coast and cross paths again when Penny refuses to leave a place so awash in rich men looking to have their money taken by “vulnerable” women. They make a bet to score a tech billionaire (Alex Sharp) and the loser has to leave forever.

Side by side, Jackie looks to be the better player in this game. She’s rich, has a lovely house, an assistant/partner to help her with all of the large scores, and a well-honed con game. Her beauty and constantly shifting personas are her into men’s wallets.  Penny is a rolling stone and looks like she’d be the sloppier of the two (because that’s how we view large women), but her game is just as slick – and she’s not sloppy, just an earthy, ribald cuteness. She has her own style, and it’s clever – it’s totally her angle. She expects to be underestimated and it works. The Hustle doesn’t rely on fart jokes or large breasts or cruelty for humor. That’s such a relief.

Despite this being a remake of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988), The Hustle feels original all by itself. I personally love seeing crafty, clever women at work. I loved seeing an indulgent, almost sisterly bond form between women who didn’t need to be catty to get their point across and get the job done. Call me sappy but maybe my diet of horror and thrillers where people routinely stab each other in the back for sport made this movie fun to watch.

Now I’m not saying it didn’t have problems and you won’t see the ending coming a mile away, but for The Hustle, it was the journey and the cons and the grifts, and the humor that didn’t feel mean. I’m saying this is a great girlfriends’ night out movie to be watched with wine and those expensive movie theater sharables.

The Hustle is rated PG-13 for language, off-screen sexy-times, and funny uncomfortable twerking.