Even the incredible actresses that are Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson could not save this abomination of a film. This was mostly due to them were cast to play themselves. I long for the day when Wilson stops getting typecast as ‘fat funny friend’ and is able to shine in true comedic glory.
The Hustle is an unfunny, lazy, and slightly misogynist retelling of Frank Oz’s Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988). In fact, it’s a word-for-word copy, and while the gender-bent characters where no doubt a scheme to appeal to feminist film-goers, it has had the opposite effect.
The Hustle is barely funny enough to pass as a goofy summer comedy set in the Mediterranean, let alone a film trying to make any cultural difference.
Wilson plays Penny, based on Freddy Benson, a bumbling Australian who catfishes men in order to scam them out of their money. Hathaway’s character Josephine, based on Lawrence Jamieson, is cultured, rich and beautiful, and enjoys playing the ditzy damsel in distress to seduce men, dropping them once she has what she wants.
Why men keep being given scripts for femme-centric films is baffling. What could have been an iconic film about female friendship and empowerment was turned into an utterly boring story about two women who compete for a man’s attention. Although, honestly, any film that Meghan Trainor records an original song for is no doubt misogynistic under the guise of feminist. Despite the film attempting to highlight how men never believe women are clever enough to outsmart them, it really just portrays these beliefs to be facts.
The Hustle is barely funny enough to pass as a goofy summer comedy set in the Mediterranean, let alone a film trying to make any cultural difference. My advice? Don’t bother watching.
Rating: 1/5 stars