Netflix And Chill: The Hustle (2019)

There's a part of me that realises I am being a tiny bit unfair to The Hustle by judging it so harshly against Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, one of my favourite comedies of all time. That film is itself based on an earlier film, Bedtime Story, which I have still not seen. And here we have something that works the premise for a third time, placing female stars in where there were previously men. Those women are played by Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson, which may be a mark against the film already for some.

Wilson plays Penny Rust, a small-time con artist who enjoys preying on men and getting them to hand money over to her. She never feels guilt, there's always a point that shows her that they deserved to be parted from their cash. Hathaway is Josephine Chesterfield, a con artist who plans more sophisticated schemes for much greater rewards. When these two cross paths, Josephine tries to send Penny away. Failing at that, she instead opts to train her, using her in some cons that make use of her talents. But there can only be one to really rule the roost, which is when the two bet on extracting a set sum of money from a young tech millionaire, Thomas Westerburg (Alex Sharp).

The feature directorial debut from Chris Addison, who has had a decent bit of practice with TV work over the years, The Hustle is a strange film to judge. Addison, who has been acting onscreen for just over a decade and has been part of some great comedy shows, seems to think that he's landed the perfect leads in Hathaway and Wilson. That's not the case, and it's this wrong decision that constantly threatens to sink the film.

Not that Hathaway is bad. She just doesn't feel right for the role. The same can be said for Wilson. Her con work never feels believable, because she has to spin things further and make them sillier and sillier. Even Sharp, not at all terrible, just doesn't feel right. That's the biggest problem the film has, the cast.

The script has lines to make you laugh, many of the best ones either unchanged, or only slightly changed, from the original script. It's also good when it allows Hathaway to roll her eyes and effortlessly one-up Wilson, but not so good when things feel most adjusted to either cater to a more modern sensibility, or manipulated to be in line with the style of Wilson. There's something about this premise, two con artists who decide to compete in a beautiful location to extract a set amount of money from one target, that lends itself to a timeless quality, something that then makes any talk of apps feel jarring. And the same goes for the many insults Wilson fires at Hathaway, as chucklesome as they sometimes are in their own right.

Perhaps I am being far too harsh, perhaps I am still being too kind to make up for my self-perceived harshness, but The Hustle doesn't ever work. Even the final scenes seem to get things wrong, in a small but very obvious way (to those familiar with the previous take on the material).

4/10

You can buy the movie here.
Americans can buy the movie here.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)

Yet another movie to highlight when people start ranting and raving about how all remakes are the work of the devil, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is a remake of a 1964 movie, Bedtime Story. I've not yet seen Bedtime Story, so I can't say if this film is better or worse, but I can tell you that this is another great vehicle for Steve Martin, this time sparking brilliantly off Michael Caine.

The script, by Dale Launer, Stanley Shapiro and Paul Henning (the latter two being responsible for Bedtime Story), is consistently smart and witty, and the set-pieces are enough to lift the whole film into the realm of greatness.

Michael Caine plays Lawrence Jamieson, a sophisticated con-man who works on a large scale. His nose is slightly put out of joint when he encounters Freddy Benson (Martin), a small-time con artist who may cause problems. Benson may not be operating in the same league as Jamieson, but as the former puts it: "A poacher who shoots at rabbits may scare big game away."
When his attempts to get rid of Freddy keep failing, a truce is called. The experienced, sophisticated con-man will educate the talented novice. And if the two feel that the education is concluded, well, there's always the chance to compete against one another as they see who can extract the most money from Janet Colgate (Glenne Headly). The prize? Well, it's kind of a winner take all deal.

Directed by Frank Oz, who hasn't directed a bad movie in his entire film-making career (as far as I'm concerned . . . . . . and I will debate that point with anyone who cares to try), this is a warm, lively pleasure from start to finish.

It may not have all of the whackiness that Martin used to get away with in the earlier years of his movie career, but it does have sparkling banter between the leads, a sequence that introduces viewers to a very special man named Ruprecht and many other moments that make me laugh so hard I sometimes get worrying looks from people who think I am perilously close to having a seizure.

While Caine and Martin are superb in every scene (this brings out the best in both of them, I only wish they had found something else to work on together), there's plenty to praise in the performance from Glenne Headly, who holds her own alongside the gentlemen and plays up the sweetness of her character while also reacting in the best possible way to the inspired lunacy that builds and builds. Anton Rodgers and Ian McDiarmid do well enough with their small roles, and I've always been a big fan of Barbara Harris, who has a lot of fun here playing Fanny Eubanks (aka Lady Fanny of Omaha).

This may not be absolutely perfect, but it comes close enough for me (as so many Steve Martin movies from the '80s do). We can all just breathe a huge sigh of relief that the initial pairing of Mick Jagger and David Bowie didn't come to fruition. The mind boggles at how THAT film would have turned out.

9/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dirty-Rotten-Scoundrels-Steve-Martin/dp/B00005KISR/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373978036&sr=8-1&keywords=dirty+rotten+scoundrels