Sandy Kenyon reviews 'The Hustle,' calls movie a 'disappointment'
NEW YORK (WABC) -- "The Hustle" is a remake of a remake made about women largely by men, and it's easy for me to see why it's earned a low approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes!
There's a special place in movie hell for pictures like "The Hustle," which manage to waste so much talent. The fault lies not in the stars: Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson are well matched as con artists looking to take money from men along the glamorous French Riviera.
Each has their own style, and I enjoyed hearing the murmurs of agreement from woman in the theater when a few hard truths about us guys got mentioned -- such as when Hathaway's character observes, "There's nothing more compelling to a man than a vulnerable woman."
And these two are really good at playing vulnerable.
Their mark is billed as a tech billionaire and played by Alex Sharp, a Tony Award winner on Broadway, who makes the most of lines that should have been funnier.
The pair decide the fictional town of Beaumont Sur Mer isn't big enough for both of them, and that's too bad because then, this becomes a film about women competing against each other when watching them work their wiles together is just as funny.
Good jokes are in very short supply here, and all the best of them are in the trailer, making "The Hustle" seem like a bit like a cheat.
Such a disappointment! Especially since it is based on a very funny comedy made 30 years ago called "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels". That was based on a film called "Bedtime Story," released more than half a century ago. The old story has been re-worked here -- when it really needed to be re-invented!
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