Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

Hustlers Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman December 3, 2019

Director Lorene Scafaria's (The Meddler, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World) Hustlers tells a true-life story of the intersection of sex, scandal, scam and the greed and the sense of power and self-worth, whether real or imagined, that comes from all of it on the two ends of the stripper-client relationship. The story interweaves a larger sociopolitical narrative as well, covering the street-level impact of the 2008 "Great Recession" on the ground floors and back rooms of life. It's a film with the potential for disaster if not focused properly but it's actually more mentally stimulating and generally entertaining than it is sexually titillating. The film has it focuses in the right places and rewards audiences with a surprisingly smart and fairly sophisticated journey through the ebbs and flows and rises and falls of several women in the pre- and post-recession era.

Young, inexperienced New York stripper Destiny (Constance Wu) is getting by on her good looks and basic moves, but she wants more, particularly since her greedy bosses take more from her under the table than she can afford to lose. She wants what Ramona (Jennifer Lopez), the club's veteran vixen, has: all the right moves and all the money she can handle. Ramona willingly takes Destiny under her wing. Destiny ascends towards the top of the strip club food chain and she and Ramona become inseparable friends. Until the 2008 recession hits. The business dries up, Destiny finds herself pregnant, and she can't even land a menial job in retail to make ends meet. Desperate times call for desperate measures, though, and she and Ramona, along with the beautiful Annabelle (Lili Reinhart), cook up a scheme to steal from the tight-wallet rich and give to themselves, to make a living hustling men for their credit card numbers and living it up on their unwilling and unwitting dimes.

Though the film is only "inspired" by true events there's an air of believability and authenticity to it, as the girls concoct various schemes to separate men from their money and recover their long-lost lifestyles from their heyday on the stripper's stage when the economy was booming and money flowed easily, literally falling from the air in their case. The film moves through a predicable cadence: the economy falls, the lifestyles collapse, the scams and schemes work, cracks appear in the foundation, and the whole thing eventually comes tumbling down. But Scafaria, who also penned the screenplay (adapted from Jessica Pressler's mouthful of a titled book The Hustlers at Scores: The Ex-Strippers Who Stole From (Mostly) Rich Men and Gave to, Well, Themselves) doesn't focus on suspense but rather the journey. Her goal is to tell the story through the prism of characters audiences can get behind and care about, even if their justification for what amounts to theft all but begs for them to look in the mirror and tell themselves they aren't guilty of the same malicious swindling and deceitful enrichment as the men they target for those very reasons. The film isn't heavy on the economic equations, either, just sharing enough of the essential story of the 2008 collapse to get the ball rolling, but the story certainly lends itself to a deeper discussion into various economic principles if one were so inclined to view the film in that prism.

It's the cast that sells the material. While the story is largely strong enough -- though certainly a bit predictable -- to stand on its own, stars Jennifer Lopez and Constance Wu shine in their roles, embracing the highs and lows and realities and rigors of their lives around the pole and beyond the limits of the law with steady, commendable cadence and depth. Both demonstrate command of characters and a deeper understanding of story and what it means to the girls they play beyond the simple accumulation of wealth. While the material gain is prominent in the characters' maneuverings, the film and the actors do not ignore the price they pay internally. While subtle at first, it's a prominent component in the film's larger arc, and to watch them through the ebbs and flows of the process is as rewarding as the process itself. These are surprisingly deep efforts that warrant attention, even if the material would seem to suggest otherwise.

Hustlers Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Universal releases Hustlers to Blu-ray with a picture-perfect 1080p transfer. The presentation is exquisite, digitally sourced and brought to life on the 1080p format with flawless textures and colors. The highlight is unequivocally the characters, who are revealed with fine-point intimacy in close up where natural skin formations, densely applied makeup, and even glittery accents are revealed with unflinching clarity and visual delight. Even in low-light club interiors, whether the more expansive main floor or the more intimate back rooms, the transfer presents the structural details and furnishings with appreciable accuracy and definition. Some of the more well-lit locales, particularly the high class and costly apartments in which the girls live later in the movie, enjoy commendable clarity to all furnishings and construction details. The Blu-ray picture never falters, and neither do the colors, which are bold and brilliant from the top down, from intensely crisp whites to perfectly refined shadow and low light detail in the clubs and in barrooms. Clothes dazzle, accents shine, and every tone is full and flavorful. The image never exhibits source noise to bothersome levels and compression issues are nowhere to be found. This is a first-rate Blu-ray from Universal.

Hustlers Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Hustlers arrives on Blu-ray with a wonderful Dolby Atmos soundtrack. It's an efficient presentation with a musical highlight. Club beats are deep and immersive. The track always creates a tangible atmosphere around the strip club, with heavy, intense low end engagement and crowd din that spills from seemingly every channel. The overheads don't offer explicit, discrete presentations, but they do help create a larger, more purposeful environment that proves to be a critical cog in creating the larger story as it evolves throughout the film, from stage setting and character intros and well deep into the story's and characters' centers. The track offers some additional environmental supports along the way, all nicely detailed and finely and seamlessly folded into the larger experience. It's very capable and agreeable in all aspects. Dialogue is clear and presents in the center with faultless clarity. Prioritization is always spot-on. Narration rises a little higher and presents a little more sharply in support.

Hustlers Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Hustlers' Blu-ray is surprisingly bereft of the usual barrage of Universal mini-featurettes, gag reels, and deleted scenes. Instead all that's included are a couple of trailers and a director's commentary track. A DVD copy of the film and an iTunes digital copy code are included with purchase. This release ships with an embossed slipcover.

• Trailer 1 (1080p, 2:11).
• Trailer 2 (1080p, 0:57).
• Audio Commentary: Writer/Director Lorene Scafaria covers story, cast, crew, sights, sounds, shooting in a real strip club, dramatic arcs, and all of the usual points for commentary exposition. It's a fairly engaging and well spoken track that fans should enjoy.

Hustlers Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Hustlers tells the story of economic downturn but marks an upturn for Jennifer Lopez, who shines in a role that challenges her to merge glamour and greed, sex and scam in the same performance. The movie is focused and entertaining, smart and savvy, and boasts quality efforts from all involved. Universal's Blu-ray is surprisingly short on bonus content but the video and audio presentations are of extremely high quality. Recommended.