“These Wall Street guys, you see what they did to this country? They stole from everybody. Hardworking people lost everything. And not one of those d—bags went to jail.”
That’s Ramona, a veteran stripper in the new movie “Hustlers.”
Inspired by a viral New York Magazine article, it tells the true story of former strip club employees who join forces to swindle their Wall Street clients during the 2008 financial crisis.
The film stars Jennifer Lopez, Constance Wu, Lili Reinhart, Keke Palmer, Cardi B, Lizzo and Julia Stiles.
Here’s part of a review in The Hollywood Reporter by guest Beandrea July.
Hustlers delivers on its hype while consistently doing the unexpected. Scafaria, whose last pic was the 2016 Susan Sarandon vehicle The Meddler, excels at immersing the audience in the world of sex work in clubs, quietly disabusing us scene by scene of any stereotypes about who these women are. Part workplace dramedy, part revenge fantasy, the film weaves together a series of satisfying, organic-feeling turns.
This is a movie about strippers running a con, yes, but it is also much more than that — it’s an incisive commentary on women in the workplace, including breadwinning mothers, navigating an economy that disadvantages them. Surprisingly enough, it shares cinematic DNA with the 1981 juggernaut 9 to 5.
We review “Hustlers” for this meeting of The 1A Movie Club.
GUESTS
John Horn, Host, KPCC’s “The Frame”; @jghorn
Beandrea July, Freelance culture writer; film critic; @beandreadotcom
Siobhan Brooks, Professor of African American studies, California State University-Fullerton; sociologist; author, “Unequal Desires: Race and Erotic Capital in the Stripping Industry”
For more, visit https://the1a.org.
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