#thehustle

Nothing erodes your patience quite like an unfunny comedy. The laughs in The Hustle are few and far between but this is just one issue which plagues this film.

Con artist Penny (Rebel Wilson) swindles men and she’s gotten away with it for a while now. She’s an amateur compared to cultured Josephine (Anne Hathaway), who sets up elaborate cons with her assistants (Ingrid Oliver and Dean Norris). They make the $500 bucks Penny gets from her stupid Tinder dates look like nothing. After the two masterminds team up for a series of cons, a rivalry begins to form.

The number of jokes who will leave the audience silent - perhaps even writhing in discomfort - should be enough to dissuade you from buying a ticket. There are a few moments which bring out smiles or chuckles but for the most part, Rebel Wilson is once again doing the same thing we’ve seen her do before. When we get her in small doses, she works. As a lead character - yikes. You get tired of her deal quickly and Anne Hathaway doesn’t do much better playing the “straight woman” to the loud-mouthed, brash, and raunchy thief.

This is a movie written and directed by people who think you’re stupid. Yes, it’s a comedy but the cons Josephine and Penny are serving up are so unbelievable you half-expect them to fleece a couple of Martians out of their saucer at one point. Their schemes involve wild characters who’d feel out of place in an Adam Sandler comedy. We’re talking prosthetic teeth, crazy costumes, bad accents, fake tans - the works - but all of their marks act as if everything is perfectly normal. You don’t feel bad for them losing their money, which is a good thing… but the people stealing from them have no admirable skills so you don’t want them to succeed either.

It’s one of the worst-written comedies in recent memory. The bulk of its seemingly-endless running time drifts aimlessly. It’s simply an introduction to Josephine and Penny, to the world of con women followed by a bunch of unfunny skits. That lasts for what must be an hour (I could've sworn this lasted nearly two before I looked at my watch) before we FINALLY get to the semblance of an actual story. It’s about time. The faster it gets started, the faster we can get outta here.

Everything about The Hustle - the jokes, the cast, the twists - is obvious. Even if you haven’t seen the films it’s based upon, there are no surprises and you won’t laugh a whole lot. Even if you’re a fan of the leads, it’ll have you squirming and if the movie doesn’t break you, then surely the end-credit gag will. (Theatrical version on the big screen, May 11, 2019)