Hustlers

Lorene Scafaria'sHustlers serves up heavy doses of social commentary and feminist homilies as it retells the story of a crew of underemployed pole dancers in post-economic  collapse New York who operate a scheme, directed by the crew's stripper goddess / badass Ramona (Jennifer Lopez), to entice, drug and fleece horny Wall Street traders and bankers to fill the ladies' empty designer purses. Constance Wu (Crazy, Rich Asians) plays Destiny / Dorothy,  the new dancer who is befriended and schooled by Ramona and becomes the crew's CFO. Though Scafaria tries to add layers to the women at the center of this story, the film never moves much beyond its two-dimensional cat-and-mouse construct. Both Ramona and Destiny have children but motherhood is more a device to soften the women than to actually reveal more about their capacities. They talk about their duality more than act within it, I feel, which isn't to say the picture is weak. Its message of empowerment and vindication are welcome, even if the glow fades pretty quickly.