The Hustle Movie Review

The following is a movie review “The Hustle” by Marc Primo.

Release date: 10 May 2019 (USA)

Director: Chris Addison

Language: English

Production Companies: Pin High Productions, Cave 76 productions, Camp Sugar Productions, Metro-Goldwyn Meyer

Producers: Roger Binbaum, Rebel Wilson

Anne Hathaway’s comedic timing in such films as The Princess Diaries, The Devil Wears Prada, The Intern, and Collosal seems absent in Chris Addison’s The Hustle. Does this mean the once “It Girl“ of American movies is finally throwing in the towel for comedy roles?

Many remember how the original Dirty Rotten Scoundrels launched Michael Caine’s comedy career and further marked Steve Martin as a heavyweight, but its recent reboot doesn’t really do any favors for Hathaway’s career, nor that of co-star and the film’s producer, Rebel Wilson‘s.

Hathaway portrays the haughty femme fatale Josephine Chesterfield who dupes rich and gullible men with her good looks and sophistication. Wilson, on the other hand, plays Penny Rust, the uncouth, wisecracking Australian swindler who eventually competes with the beautiful and more experienced con artist resulting in a cycle where the two try to one-up one another.

On Hathaway’s fake English accent, it makes little sense how she delivers every word just for the sake of trying to be funny rather than playing the role sans ‘over-the-top‘ acting. Fans know that in the past three years, Hathaway was going for a few not-so-sweet, eccentric, yet interesting roles. But as Josephine, Hathaway had sadly broken her streak.

Wilson on the other hand somehow saves some scenes by injecting her own brand of humor that has endeared her to comedy fans for years. The jokes make sense and are effective coming from Wilson, but unfortunately bland and tasteless when delivered by Hathaway.

At any rate, it would be wrong to fault Hathaway for being unfunny. The writing did not do her character much justice by forcing her to act ridiculously when self-deprecation is not one of her strong suits. Perhaps, given the right material, Hathaway might once again shine onscreen as in her previous outings.

The sad thing is that Hathaway’s talent is not the only one that wasn’t put to good use in The Hustle. Armando Iannucci, Rebekah Staton, and Rob Delaney’s efforts were also shortchanged by a poor script that failed to give ample flexibility for each character to shine.

It‘s also not fair to compare The Hustle with other recent female-driven comedies such as Bridesmaids or Girls Trip. The Hustle relies on the success of the original Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, or its earlier version Bedtime Story, and doesn’t have much leverage for original treatment unlike the other two. The gender-swap scheme didn’t help the film much either as there are more recycled narratives than original ones aimed at female audiences.

Thanks to Wilson’s readiness to border on both the hilarious and obnoxious, the film is somehow saved from its total lack of originality. Audiences will chuckle at Wilson’s fossil and catfishing scenes, where she fully presents her character’s flaws and strengths that ultimately amount to her shallow nature of just wanting to have a good time.

If anything, The Hustle does succeed in capturing the contrast of its lead characters to establish the film’s premise early on. Moviegoers will be able to understand Josephine‘s and Penny’s motivations and differentiate one from the other. Addison is able to justify why they rebel against philandering and unfair men and sets the tone for that familiar feminism onscreen. While The Hustle barely passes as just another gender-swap remake of an old classic, it still draws enough energy from a feminist point-of-view that may just pass the lofty standards of misandrist audiences around the world.

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