Hustlers (4 Stars)

This is a film "inspired by a true story", rather than "based on a true story". By that I assume that more artistic license is taken than in most films based on actual events, especially concerning the names of the characters, but the "what happened next" texts at the end of the film, typical for true stories, are presumably correct.

In 2007 a young woman called Dorothy moved to New York to become an exotic dancer in the luxurious strip club called Moves. Most of the customers were Wall Street traders, some wealthier than others. At first she earned badly, but then she was taken under the wing of the club's star performer, Ramona (played by Jennifer Lopez). With Ramona's help she became a top earner, in her own words making more in a year than a brain surgeon.

But then came 2008 and the financial crisis struck. The club lost its big spenders, so most of the girls quit their jobs and were replaced by Russian girls who performed sex acts for money. Dorothy got married, had a baby, got divorced, and in 2011 she's struggling to survive.

This is when she meets Ramona again, and they hatch a plan. Together with Annabelle and Mercedes, two of their ex-colleagues, they pick up men in bars and take them back to Moves. They drug the men and steal their credit card details. After taking $5000 or more they leave the man unconscious, and if he complains the next day they say he must have forgotten that spent the money himself having a good time.

I'm glad I wasn't a rich man in New York in the 2000's. I would have been an easy mark. Any smart girl who knew which button to press and which lever to pull would have drained my bank account with ease. "A fool and his money are soon parted", a paraphrase of Proverbs 21:20, is a true saying. Jennifer Lopez would be gripping my money while I stare on helplessly. Unfortunately, the saying applies just as much to the ex-strippers. If they had invested their money earned while stripping instead of spending it on unnecessary luxuries, they could have weathered out the financial crisis. Even when they went on to steal thousands of dollars from men every week, they still hadn't learnt from their mistakes and still continued over-spending.

Any woman who's clever enough to take a fool's money should be clever enough to keep hold of it. Otherwise, what's the point?