The Hustle ★★★
THERE’S a moment in the new American comedy The Hustle when you think ‘this film is going to get twisted’.
Unfortunately it doesn’t, but it does remain off-beat enough to be a welcome change to the standard fare.
The Hustle is a remake of a remake.
The story of two mis-matched con artists was first released in 1964 as the little-known Bedtime Story and remade in 1988 as Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
The latter film starred Michael Caine and Steve Martin and has grown in stature over the years as an idiosyncratic comedy.
In this 2019 version the genders are reversed with good results due mainly to the decision to keep the original story and restrict any contemporary updates to the characters.
Anne Hathaway takes over the Caine role playing Josephine, a stylish and sophisticated con artist stalking rich old men on the French Riviera.
Australia’s Rebel Wilson is Lonnie, a small-time, working-class hustler whose lack of finesse frequently let’s her scams down.
Lonnie heads for Europe to avoid police in the US and ends up being fleeced by Josephine who doesn’t want her anywhere near her territory.
But Lonnie is tipped off by one of Josephine’s previous victims and winds up back at Josephine’s palatial home demanding to be taken under her wing and taught how to target the high-rollers.
The humour comes in both Lonnie’s struggles to learn the ropes and the friction that develops when they argue over shares of proceeds. The latter is decided with a bet – whoever cheats a young tech millionaire out of the least money has to leave the Riviera for good.
The film is directed by Welshman Chris Addison who has been immersed for the past few years in television political satire with Veep in the US and The Thick Of It in Britain.
In adapting the original story, Jac Schaefer (Captain Marvel) keeps the basics intact and concentrates on the actors’ strengths.
Hathaway is one of the most versatile actors around and rarely disappoints. While her comic turns have actually been a little mixed (The Devil Wears Pravda and Bride Wars but The Intern and Get Smart), she has a great time here hamming it up, particularly as the German doctor treating Lonnie’s ‘hysterical blindness’.
As for Wilson, this one of her best performances, certainly making up for her recent poor rom-com Isn’t it Romantic. Her delivery and timing are spot-on and she even manages to bring a slew of Australianisms into play.
Some of Wilson’s moments of lunacy as the mad sister and the blind woman are pretty clever and at times even inspired enough to give Martin’s effort a run for its money.
The Hustle doesn’t take as many risks as it could have done, but it’s consistently funny and avoids the final act pitfalls of many other comedies that run out of energy and ideas. It’s worth a watch.