Movies: Hustlers

[ORRFForever]

I'm looking forward to seeing Hustlers...

Click to read more...

 

[ORRFForever]

What's most wrong about this story...

If men were drugging and robbing women, and playing it for laughs in a movie, there would be hell to pay.

Also, I'm not sure they should be glamorizing "the life" of a dancer. As someone who grew up in Niagara and knew more of my share of dancers in my previous bad boy life (both professionally and personally), things do NOT end well for these girls.

They all end up with someone who uses them for their money, they lose their looks and the money dries up, and they are often left addicted to drugs or booze.

In short : they really struggling once their dancing days end.

It's usually NOT a story with a happy ending - no pun intended. We'll have to see if the movie is honest about it.

 

[David Dennison]

What's most wrong about this story...

If men were drugging and robbing women, and playing it for laughs in a movie, there would be hell to pay.

Also, I'm not sure they should be glamorizing "the life" of a dancer. As someone who grew up in Niagara and knew more of my share of dancers (both professionally and personally) in my previous bad boy life, things do NOT end well for these girls.

They all end up with either pimps or husbands who use them for their money, they lose their looks and the money dries up, they are often left addicted to drugs or booze, and they really struggling once their days on the stage end - what career can you fall back on at the age of 30 when you have ignored all areas of improvement (an education) over the last 11 years?

It's not a story with a happy ending. We'll have to see if the movie is honest about it.

*Googles strippers and happy endings*

Maybe take 20% off your fastball there buddy, it's a stupid popcorn heist movie.

Next thing you are gonna tell me Showgirls wasn't realistic. "Yeah Channing Tatum was hot in Magic Mike, but what's he gonna do with no life skills when hes 30?!?", really makes you think.

 

[Trap Jesus]

There's nothing wrong with making a movie about it and dark humor is kind of a complex thing, so I don't have a problem with them having more of a comedy angle. That being said, from what I've seen from trailers and just general buzz, there does seem to be this general aura of "female empowerment" behind this movie, which is super odd to me considering the subject matter.

 

[bleedblue1223]

Not sure if I should commend the casting of Cardi B or call it tone deaf.

 

[Trap Jesus]

Not sure if I should commend the casting of Cardi B or call it tone deaf.

Maybe she was already method acting for this part

 

[ORRFForever]

There's nothing wrong with making a movie about it and dark humor is kind of a complex thing, so I don't have a problem with them having more of a comedy angle. That being said, from what I've seen from trailers and just general buzz, there does seem to be this general aura of "female empowerment" behind this movie, which is super odd to me considering the subject matter.

Amen. There is also the worry that someone will try this and someone will die.

There is a double standard, of course, and, like I said, the glamourizing of this lifestyle serves no one. We'll have to see how they end the movie.

 

[ORRFForever]

Not sure if I should commend the casting of Cardi B or call it tone deaf.

Good point.

Give it 10 years and she will be either broke or dead - she should be an example to no one.

 

[Trap Jesus]

Amen. There is also the worry that someone will try this and someone will die.

There is a double standard, of course, and, like I said, the glamourizing of this lifestyle serves no one. We'll have to see how they end the movie.

I can't really comment much on it because I haven't seen the movie and don't really have a strong interest to see it (might be one of those things I may throw on one day if I'm bored, but probably not), but I think the whole "glamorizing the lifestyle" thing is a tricky line to walk. So much can just be attributed to style or just be overblown in general. I mean, the dancing/stripping world itself is kind of predicated on drawing people in with glitz/glamor that masks the sleaziness, so I think it's something that can actually be authentic.

I'm more talking about the general kind of "Woo! You go girl!" sentiment that seems to be present online for a movie that has a plot revolving around women drugging and robbing guys. I don't even care if there's a whole "sisterhood" element in the movie because that kind of stuff probably existed with a group of women that were working together in that setting. I just think it's weird to see that extend to real life outside of the movie where people are celebrating female empowerment because of the movie.

 

[David Dennison]

Why is everyone in this thread so "Wont somebody think of the children!?!"?

 

[Trap Jesus]

Why is everyone in this thread so "Wont somebody think of the children!?!"?

I just think it's just an interesting point of discussion. I don't know how many here are actually interested in seeing the movie.

 

[ORRFForever]

I'm more talking about the general kind of "Woo! You go girl!" sentiment that seems to be present online for a movie that has a plot revolving around women drugging and robbing guys. I don't even care if there's a whole "sisterhood" element in the movie because that kind of stuff probably existed with a group of women that were working together in that setting. I just think it's weird to see that extend to real life outside of the movie where people are celebrating female empowerment because of the movie.

Well said.

 

[David Dennison]

I just think it's just an interesting point of discussion. I don't know how many here are actually interested in seeing the movie.

To your point, there is a solid strain of feminist thought who think sex work should be legalized. Kind of along the line of drug legalization vs criminalization, keeping it illegal simply moves it to the underground, and women are victimized because they have to have a pimp and can't go to the cops for anything because they are breaking the law. IMO it's more of a libertarian vs good government/religious point of view issue than feminist vs non-feminist (or left vs right if you wanna boil it down).

But the others clutching their pearls and saying this could make people do it in real life, yeah I'm sure it does happen in real life all time. People die, people get robbed, but nobody is gonna do it because J-Lo did it.

 

[discostu]

Why is everyone in this thread so "Wont somebody think of the children!?!"?

There definitely seems to be a lot of pearl clutching.

I don't have any immediate plans to see it, but I heard the word from tiff audiences were positive, with Jennifer Lopez getting some Oscar talk. It seems poised to have a decent opening weekend, with a shot at beating IT 2 for number one.

 

[Trap Jesus]

To your point, there is a solid strain of feminist thought who think sex work should be legalized. Kind of along the line of drug legalization vs criminalization, keeping it illegal simply moves it to the underground, and women are victimized because they have to have a pimp and can't go to the cops for anything because they are breaking the law. IMO it's more of a libertarian vs good government/religious point of view issue than feminist vs non-feminist (or left vs right if you wanna boil it down).

But the others clutching their pearls and saying this could make people do it in real life, yeah I'm sure it does happen in real life all time. People die, people get robbed, but nobody is gonna do it because J-Lo did it.

I'm not saying any of that. All I'm talking about is the odd sentiment of using a movie where the main plot point is women drugging and robbing men as some sort of rallying point for female empowerment. This isn't Coyote Ugly or something, it's a crime drama. I think it's more based on ignorance than anything (most people are probably like, "J-Lo on a stipper pole, woo!"), but I just think it's something odd to see.

 

[bleedblue1223]

I think the point people are making, which is what they do in plenty of other heist/gangster movies is if they make the victims seem like they really weren't victims. Take the Ocean 11 movies, they make the targets seem like bad people too and then frame it that the insurance covers it all, so they really aren't losing. It's a true story, even Cardi B admitted to do this stuff, so I imagine they are going to make it a story of the evil Wall Street guys that destroyed lives of regular people, and they are getting what was coming to them. It's just sort of lazy writing.

 

[David Dennison]

I'm not saying any of that. All I'm talking about is the odd sentiment of using a movie where the main plot point is women drugging and robbing men as some sort of rallying point for female empowerment. This isn't Coyote Ugly or something, it's a crime drama. I think it's more based on ignorance than anything (most people are probably like, "J-Lo on a stipper pole, woo!"), but I just think it's something odd to see.

I mean aren't we kinda splitting hairs here? Guys love mob movies where they are beating the shit out of their wives, Oceans 8 was about a bunch of women stealing shit, Striptease, Showgirls and Magic Mike all took on stripping as a topic. It's a popcorn heist flick with female leads, not Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants or Devine Secrets of the Yaya Sisterhood.

 

[Trap Jesus]

I mean aren't we kinda splitting hairs here? Guys love mob movies where they are beating the **** out of their wives, Oceans 8 was about a bunch of women stealing ****, Striptease, Showgirls and Magic Mike all took on stripping as a topic. It's a popcorn heist flick with female leads, not Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants or Devine Secrets of the Yaya Sisterhood.

Guys have been heavily featured in every different kind of movie, it's not the same thing when you're talking about all female cast, female director, etc. which is something that is much more rare and truly gets celebrated on a different level today. It's not like there aren't movies to get behind on that front, this just seems to be an odd one to get behind considering it's literally about drugging/robbing guys. It's not like it's one scene or something, that's the plot of the movie.

 

[Jussi]

There definitely seems to be a lot of pearl clutching.

I don't have any immediate plans to see it, but I heard the word from tiff audiences were positive, with Jennifer Lopez getting some Oscar talk. It seems poised to have a decent opening weekend, with a shot at beating IT 2 for number one.

Hustlers (2019)

Getting great reviews.

 

[ORRFForever]

Guys have been heavily featured in every different kind of movie, it's not the same thing when you're talking about all female cast, female director, etc. which is something that is much more rare and truly gets celebrated on a different level today. It's not like there aren't movies to get behind on that front, this just seems to be an odd one to get behind considering it's literally about drugging/robbing guys. It's not like it's one scene or something, that's the plot of the movie.

 

[David Dennison]

Guys have been heavily featured in every different kind of movie, it's not the same thing when you're talking about all female cast, female director, etc. which is something that is much more rare and truly gets celebrated on a different level today. It's not like there aren't movies to get behind on that front, this just seems to be an odd one to get behind considering it's literally about drugging/robbing guys. It's not like it's one scene or something, that's the plot of the movie.

This is an R Rated film about strippers, nobody is taking their daughter to this one for #sisterhood like they might have for Oceans 8. Is it aimed at a female audience? I would guess so, but why is that an issue?

 

[ORRFForever]

It brought in $2.5M last night. Supposedly that`s "strong".

I will watch it. More as a voyeuristic exercise than anything else.

 

[Trap Jesus]

This is an R Rated film about strippers, nobody is taking their daughter to this one for #sisterhood like they might have for Oceans 8. Is it aimed at a female audience? I would guess so, but why is that an issue?

I'm not saying it's problematic or anything, I just find it odd when there are so many other movies that they can use as an examples of female empowerment. It's not because it's centered around strippers, I'm talking about the criminal angle behind it. There's 100% been a "You go girl!" rhetoric behind this movie, and it's about drugging and robbing guys. That's a bizarre thing.

Actually, I think a good parallel to draw to what I'm talking about exists in this movie.

When it comes to seeing male representation in movies today, has anyone cared since... ever? It's just something that always happens so it's not a thing. With female representation in movies, at least when it comes to seeing stuff like having strong female leads or movies centered around women, female directors, etc. it's something that is much more rare to the point where it still gets celebrated, but of course there are still a lot of other examples of this happening now to the point where you don't see people rallying around every single one of them. I look at a movie like Annihilation for example where it's an all female cast and it's well received (although a commercial failure), and for the most part the characters are smart and fleshed out, etc. and yet nobody talked about it with that kind of girl power rhetoric. And when I see people picking this one in particular considering the subject matter, it strikes me as odd.

What this movie also does though is cast a transgender actress in a role where (to my knowledge) the character isn't specified to be transgender or not. The actress was actually a dancer at the club in this movie (although not implicated in any of the criminal activity that gets focused on), and at the time wasn't open about being transgender, which would mirror what this role is supposed to be. It's an interesting real-life parallel that works as a casting decision, and I think it's actually something worth celebrating for the transgender community to land a role like this despite the subject matter, because it essentially never happens. But then you look at people getting behind J-Lo in a similar way, and it's just like... why?

 

[Osprey]

I have issues with this, but the fact that it glamorizes stripping is the least of them. As pointed out, movies glamorize mobster activity, too, and we generally don't complain about those. It does seem odd to make stripping into a vehicle for female empowerment, though. 20 years ago, Showgirls did the same and was criticized for it.

The bigger problem, IMO, is the way that the film appears to portray the sexes. The women seem to be portrayed positively (as confident, savvy, caring, smart, etc.) while the men are portrayed negatively (as easy to fool, arrogant, greedy, sleazy, etc.). You might argue that that's just because they're the heroes and villains, respectively, but even the male cops are made to look slightly incompetent and I doubt that a film about heroic men exploiting crooked women would fly in 2019.

Also, it seems that we're meant to not feel bad for the victims because they worked on Wall Street when the 2008 crash happened, as though that automatically makes them villains. It's ironic that a film that seems to be pushing the angle that you can be a stripper and still be a good person doesn't seem as interested in the notion that you can work on Wall Street and still be a good person.

That said, this is just based on that trailer. I hope that the film is more nuanced and balanced than it seems so far. If it ends up that it isn't, though, I'll pass.

 

[ORRFForever]

I have always had a crush on J-Lo and I will not miss an opportunity to watch her in a sexy role.