Pain Hustlers (2023)
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2025-09 to 2026-08
A struggling single mother finds herself at the center of a criminal pharmaceutical conspiracy after landing a job with a failing startup.
The story
In 2011, Liza Drake, a struggling single mother living in Florida, is offered a lucrative job by a customer named Pete Brenner. After being kicked out of her living situation, she finds Pete at a struggling pharmaceutical start-up called Zanna. Pete rewrites her resume to give her a fake biochemistry degree, allowing her to impress the company founder, Doctor Jack Neel. Liza is given a strict deadline to convince a physician to prescribe their drug, Lonafen. Despite initial failures, Liza eventually manages to get the drug prescribed, leading to a massive market success for the company.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
In 2011, Liza Drake, a struggling single mother in Florida, takes a job at the failing pharmaceutical start-up Zanna after her friend Pete Brenner helps her secure a position with a falsified biochemistry degree. Liza successfully convinces a physician to prescribe the company's drug, Lonafen, leading to a massive market win. As the company prospers, Liza is promoted to National Sales Director. However, the company founder, Doctor Jack Neel, begins pressuring the team to market Lonafen for all types of pain, not just cancer. While Liza initially disagrees, she eventually complies as her daughter Phoebe requires expensive brain surgery. The situation turns dire when a friend's husband overdoses on Lonafen. Liza eventually agrees to testify against the company, revealing the bribery and illegal activities of the executives. The investigation reveals that Lonafen was essentially fentanyl. The key executives, including Lydell, Paley, Brenner, and Neel, receive prison sentences. Liza is sentenced to 15 months for her role in the greed that cost lives. After her release, she partners with former colleagues to start a skin care company.
- First release year
- 2023
- Runtime (minutes)
- 123
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- David Yates
- Writers
- Wells Tower · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Emily Blunt; Chris Evans; Andy García; Catherine O'Hara; Jay Duplass; Brian d'Arcy James; Chloe Coleman
- Genres
- crime comedy; black comedy; crime drama
- Themes
- corporate greed; opioid crisis; pharmaceutical ethics; maternal sacrifice
- Tone and mood
- black comedy; crime drama
- Premise and plot tags
- based on actual events; pharmaceutical industry; true crime; crime comedy
- Source material / true-story basis
- The 2022 book 'The Hard Sell' by Evan Hughes, based on a 2018 New York Times Magazine article.
- Reception
- The film received generally negative reviews from critics.
- Reported review scores
- Metacritic · score: 44 · scale: 100 · review count: 34
- Production trivia
- The film is loosely based on the activities of the real-world company Insys Therapeutics.; The production was announced in August 2021.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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