The gender-swapped version of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Directed by: Chris Addison
Written by: Stanley Shapiro, Paul Henning, Dale Launer, Jac Schaeffer
Cast: Anne Hathaway, Rebel Wilson, Alex Sharp
If you’ve seen the 1988 Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and loved it, don’t see this film. If you haven’t seen Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, don’t see this film.
Remember when you were little, and you really wanted that new “Now that’s what I call music” tape or CD, and instead you got the “some nobody covering your favorite songs” CD? It was the same songs but not even close to being good. That is exactly how I felt after seeing The Hustle.
Not only did the cast lack the energy and humor I felt watching the original, but it also missed opportunities to bring something new to the story set in today’s world.
I usually enjoy Rebel Wilson, even though she plays over the top characters as she does in the Pitch Perfect movies. I find her humor style fitting for this kind of film and was looking forward to seeing how she would play this type of character and make it her own.
For the most part, I was let down by her acting this time and felt that Wilson and Hathaway’s characters were unbelievable and outlandish. I felt like I was watching a bad community theatre version of this story.
Having been in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels The Musical, I am very familiar with the story, and the countless ways it can make even the most stoic faced grouch laugh.
There’s a term for the style of acting seen in The Hustle; it’s called phoning it in.
Penny Rust (Wilson) is a scam artist. Not a very good scam artist, but she’s gotten away with some small-time scams that have helped her get by. We see her pulling her most used scam “the catfish” to weasel out a few hundred bucks from some guy. When she’s almost caught, she decides to try her scams somewhere completely different, the French Riviera.
Why? Who knows? Just go with the story, ok? *eyeroll*
We meet Josephine Chesterfield (Hathaway) and see she is also a s̶c̶a̶m̶ con artist, but she is different. Whereas Penny is pulling small-time stuff, Josephine is raking it in with cons that pay out tens of thousands, if not more, at a time. She sees Penny as a small-time player who is getting in the way of her big scores.
Penny devises a plan to team up with Josephine, to win big at conning men. Much to Josephine’s chagrin they team up and after some big wins, they decide to go at odds. They both create a game where whoever can swindle five hundred thousand out of a target first, wins.
Up to this point, it’s mildly entertaining. They settle on the mark, and we meet Thomas (Sharp) who is a tech millionaire. Who can pull the con first? Who has the best con game? Isn’t this exciting and fun? (He said sarcastically)
The casting was a dud for Thomas, and I really would have liked to see someone with a little more charm and innocence for the role. Sharp played him like a dorky, naive klutz. The film pretty much falls off by the time we meet Thomas.
Overall this film felt tired. I was so unimpressed with Hathaway and wondered why she played the role as she did. It wasn’t believable, especially at the bits where she was supposed to be very high class standing next to Wilson. It felt forced.
One thing that makes great movies is when you feel like you weren’t watching a film. Your imagination falls into the story, and you lose that feeling that what you’re watching isn’t real. The acting feels real. The Hustle never made me feel that way. I felt like I knew I was watching actors try to play these roles. I doubt that anyone else would disagree.
