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Chris Eberle
Penny Rust is a small-time con-artist who has little difficulty swindling foolish young men out of their cash. Josephine Chesterfield is a refined wealthy lady who does pretty much the same thing but with wealthier marks. When the two butt heads in Josephine’s swanky town in France, they decide to hold a little competition. Their mark is a young dot-com billionaire who is instantly attracted to Penny and her feigned blindness. Hilarity ensues until the situation comes to a head and the truth is revealed.
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2019, Color, Rated PG-13, 1 Hr 33 mins
DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1, 2.39:1 Aspect Ratio
Starring: Anne Hathaway, Rebel Wilson, Alex Sharp
Directed by: Chris Addison
Rating
Violence: No
Sex: No but lots of inuendo
Language: No but lots of crude humor
Fans of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels will instantly recognize this film. Not only are the main characters near-exact copies of the con-men made famous by Michael Caine and Steve Martin, the story is an exact retelling of the original. The gags from the original 1988 film are all there, yes, even Ruprecht makes an appearance. That being said, I enjoyed The Hustle. Rebel Wilson is a master of physical comedy and the movie is worth watching just for her performance. She comes close to Steve Martin’s level. Anne Hathaway however is no Michael Caine. She’s certainly a fine actor but her poor attempt at a British accent spoiled it for me. She makes a good foil though and on the whole, The Hustle provides a fun evening’s entertainment. Though there is a lot of crude sexual humor, there is no profanity or sensuality so you can safely enjoy this one with your teenage children.
The image is bright and colorful with great contrast and saturation throughout. There aren’t too many dark scenes so shadow detail isn’t really a factor. Detail is solid in facial closeups and in the wider shots of elegant building interiors. I saw a few instances of judder during overhead camera pans and the occasional focus error.
The completely dialog-focused DTS-HD MA encode is clear and detailed with voices that are completely natural and unprocessed. Music is nicely placed in the background and consists of French café-style guitar harkening back to the original Dirty Rotten Scoundrels film from 1988. Surround and sub effects are nearly non-existent as all action takes place on the wide front sound stage.
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Bonus features include three short documentaries totaling about 16 minutes and audio commentary from director Chris Addison.