Hustlers (2019)
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A group of New York City strippers orchestrate a scheme to defraud wealthy men by drugging them and stealing their credit card information.
The story
In 2014, a former New York City-based stripper named Dorothy is interviewed by a journalist regarding her former mentor, Ramona Vega. The narrative flashes back to several years prior, showing Dorothy (performing under the name Destiny) and Ramona forming a formidable team at a strip club. Following the 2008 financial crisis, Destiny faces personal hardships and financial instability. She reconnects with Ramona, who introduces her to a lucrative but illicit scheme: drugging wealthy men at bars and stealing their credit card information to charge them to their limit. The two women, along with their protégées, begin to profit from the scheme while navigating the complexities of their underground operation.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
In 2014, Dorothy (Destiny) is interviewed by a journalist about her former mentor, Ramona Vega. The story reveals their history starting in 2007, where they formed a team at a club called Moves. After the 2008 financial crisis, Destiny faced hardship and joined Ramona's scheme of drugging wealthy men with ketamine and MDMA to steal their credit card information. The operation grew successful but faced internal issues as other strippers began to copy them. Ramona eventually cut ties with the club to move the operation to private locations, hiring less reliable associates. Following the death of Destiny's grandmother, the two women's relationship fractured due to Ramona's callousness. In 2014, the interview ends abruptly as Destiny becomes uncomfortable with the focus on Ramona. Later, it is revealed that the girls were eventually caught by police after a teammate, Dawn, flipped. Destiny took a plea deal, while the others served short sentences. The film ends with a journalist visiting a now-working-retail-job Ramona, who still keeps a photo of Destiny.
- First release year
- 2019
- Runtime (minutes)
- 110
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Lorene Scafaria
- Writers
- Lorene Scafaria · writer
- Cast and characters
- Constance Wu · Destiny; Jennifer Lopez · Ramona Vega; Julia Stiles; Lili Reinhart; Keke Palmer; Lizzo; Cardi B
- Genres
- crime; comedy; drama
- Themes
- female friendship; survival; crime
- Tone and mood
- bold; empowering
- Setting
- New York City, 2007-2014
- Premise and plot tags
- heist; crime; female-led
- Source material / true-story basis
- New York magazine's 2015 article 'The Hustlers at Scores' by Jessica Pressler
- Content notes
- sex-work
- Reception
- The film received positive reviews from critics, with particular praise for Lopez's performance.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 88% · scale: percentage · review count: 358; Metacritic · score: 79 · scale: 100 · review count: 44; PostTrak · score: 3.5 · scale: 5
- Production trivia
- The film was banned from release in Malaysia due to 'excessive obscene content'.; The production budget was $20.7 million, and it grossed $157.6 million worldwide.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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