The recent history of movies about strippers is actually pretty good, considering that the Magic Mike movies were actually decent However, when it comes to female stripper movies, things are a bit more miss than hit. Even if we discount the train wreck that is Showgirls for being so bad it's good, most movies about female strippers are little more than excuses for nudity. However, a new film starring Jennifer Lopez might be something else entirely.
The singer and actress has signed on to star in a new film called Hustlers, about strippers who end up taking advantage of their Wall Street clients. According to Deadline, Lopez will play the ringleader of the group of strippers.
Hustlers is based on a New York Magazine articles titled The Hustlers at Scores which told the story of the real-life strippers who made a business out of robbing their customers blind. While being a stripper with a clientele primarily around Wall Street was great before the economic collapse, after things fell apart that wasn't quite the case anymore. A group of women who started out by trying to drive customers into the clubs eventually went out on their own to provide strip club services, and more, directly to the customer. However, they then begin to intentionally overcharge the guys, taking their Wall Street clients for more and more money, which the guys don't report because either they don't want to admit the legality of the situation, or because they don't actually remember the evening. Apparently, drugs were a big part of this.
Lorene Scafaria, the writer and director of Seeking a Friend for the End of the World will direct Hustlers based on her own adapted screenplay of the material.
Hustlers certainly sounds like an interesting premise and, while I'm sure there will be no lack of sexy girls wearing little or no clothing at various points, the real-life story is quite intriguing and certainly the sort of thing that can support a feature film.
Of course, at this point, we don't even know what kind of movie this will be. With this sort of material Hustlers could end up looking like a strong dramatic story, a black comedy, or something in between. With the girls at the center of the story, they will likely be portrayed as the heroes, though that doesn't mean they'll be viewed as good people.
Jennifer Lopez appears to be the first to sign onto the new project. If Hustlers can bring in a strong ensemble to fill out the cast of girls this could be something special. We'll be keeping an eye on this one as Hustlers moves forward.
