Since the beginning of time, women have had to use their ingenuity and wits to survive in a world that often wants to keep them pinned down. Based on the viral 2015 New York Magazine article, “The Hustlers at Score,” Lorene Scafaria’s Hustlers is a dazzling narrative. The film centers a group of women who decide to be active participants in their own lives. Instead of waiting for better circumstances to come to them– they choose to take what the need, and quite frankly what they deserve.
Hustlers opens in 2007–the year before the most devastating economic crash since the Great Depression. Wall Street was basking in its golden moment, and New York was the epicenter of it all. As Janet Jackson’s “Control” strums in the background, we meet Destiny (Constance Wu). A newcomer at one of the most exclusive strip clubs in the city–she hasn’t quite found her footing. She’s barely scraping by with enough money to help her ailing grandmother. The other girls have their regulars and their confidence–wooing clients into the backrooms and garnering thousands of dollars a night for their acts. However, Destiny still hasn’t quite learned how to “sell fantasy.” But there’s one woman who has.
Ramona (Jennifer Lopez) is the queen of the club. Vivacious, sexy as hell and enticing–she has learned how to work the club, and its men for well over a decade. When we first meet Ramona, swirling around a pole–she’s like a work of art. As thrilled as the club’s clientele is with her–Destiny is also dazzled. Looking for ways to advocate for herself–Destiny reaches out to Ramona who happily takes her under her wing (and into her mink fur).
A former centerfold, Romana eagerly shows Destiny the ropes. She teaches her how to reel men in, how to get them to fund her lifestyle, and she also teaches her some new tricks for the stage. In a role that is brief but hilarious —Cardi B stars as Diamond –a stripper from the Bronx who skills Destiny on giving an erotic lap dance. Under the tutelage of her new big sister–Destiny’s life changes for the better only to come to a screeching halt in 2008.
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Image: STX Entertainment.