Respond to these rapid questions in our The Hustle quiz and we will tell you which The Hustle character you are. Play it now.
It’s easy to forget about “The Hustle,” a con comedy starring Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson, once it’s over. On an airplane, perhaps on the way to a luxurious and relaxing destination like the South of France, where the film is set, it’s the kind of movie you watch between naps as you drift in and out of consciousness.
It’s not a terrible situation. Really, it isn’t much more than a vehicle for Hathaway to swan around in an assortment of clingy dresses and phony accents, and for Wilson to pratfall and deadpan her way from one ridiculous scheme to the next. Each actress appears to be completely immersed in the ridiculousness and physicality of her role. Unfortunately, they appear to be appearing in separate films from one another and never seem to be able to develop the chemistry or groove that is required to make this type of material sing.
The 1988 Michael Caine-Steve Martin comedy “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,” which was itself a remake of the 1964 David Niven-Marlon Brando comedy “Bedtime Story,” is remade by director Chris Addison, who changes the gender of the characters. A couple of con artists con each other, then realize they can con more people out of even more money if they work together, then realize they can’t trust each other (because, duh, they’re con artists), so they devise a competition to see who can con an unsuspecting tech billionaire (Alex Sharp) out of $500,000. The winner gets a $1 million prize. If he or she wins, he or she will be given the opportunity to live in the fictional French Riviera town of Beaumont-sur-Mer and con tourists and gamblers out of millions of dollars.
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There, Hathaway’s Josephine Chesterfield has ruled exclusively and lived lavishly for years with the assistance of a police inspector (Ingrid Oliver), who protects her in exchange for a financial reward. She has lofty ambitions and is willing to make a bundle off of posh fools. But then Penny Rust, Wilson’s brash Australian (does Wilson play any other kind?) sidekick, arrives to get in on the action as well. Even though Penny’s schemes have been far more low-key and with lower stakes, once she witnesses Josephine’s incredible fortune, she insists on staying and learning from the master.
The Hustle Quiz
The plot isn’t particularly important in this case (although the script is credited to Jac Schaeffer as well as Stanley Shapiro, Paul Henning and Dale Launer, who wrote the original material). The steadily building thrill of watching an audacious plan come together piece by piece is not the point of this film, in contrast to, say, a “Ocean’s” movie. “The Hustle” is a little more haphazard. While watching the ladies approach their latest victim in whatever ridiculous costume, accent, or backstory they’ve concocted off-screen, we’re thrust into the middle of a scam. Even though the randomness of it all can be amusing, it also makes us feel less invested in whether or not they’ll be able to pull it off in the end. If the scam is successful, that is fantastic. If not, it will be passed on to the next unfortunate soul.
Also, you will find out which character are you in this The Hustle quiz.
There are times when Josephine and Penny are feeling each other out and trying to one-up each other that can be amusing to watch. There’s a clever play on words that involves a hotel suite that made me laugh out loud. More often than not, their competition appears to be a collection of individual ideas—some of which work, some of which don’t—rather than a cohesive whole with a clear direction. Nowhere is this more evident than in the training montage, in which Josephine puts Penny through her paces as if she were putting her through the paces of a future Navy SEAL recruit. It’s amusing, but it also makes absolutely no sense.
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The most significant flaw in “The Hustle” is that it fails to capitalize on the opportunity presented by its gender-flipped premise to make a genuine political statement. The characters claim that they are doing what they are doing in order to exact revenge on the men of the world who have exploited women for far too long. They’re simply taking what is rightfully theirs, something that has been long overdue. And they’re doing it by appealing to traditional notions of idealized female sexuality: Josephine is portrayed as a sultry sexpot, and Penny is depicted as the worried sister of a buxom blonde who may be in danger. The point is merely superficial, and it appears to be little more than an opportunity for costume designer Emma Fryer to dress the striking and statuesque Hathaway in a variety of beautiful designs rather than anything else.
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Hathaway and Wilson are certainly up for anything that comes their way—so much so that you’ll wish they’d been given the luxury of working with material that had a little more bite to it.
For more personality quizzes check this: The Mule Quiz.
