Dir. Lorene Scafaria
If every time you were convinced to take a selfie with a drunk stranger in a club bathroom or give her your last hairband because she said you had nice skin was pushed to the furthest reaches of your imagination, you’d get this movie. And I mean that in the best possible way. Jennifer Lopez as Ramona masterfully manipulates Drunk Girl in a Bathroom energy until you too would consider some criminal acts to win her approval. This movie is sold as a fascinating and scandalous crime story about a group of strippers robbing wealthy men in the wake of the financial crisis of ‘08, but it goes through great pains to show that more than any of that- this is a story about sisterhood.
Before I can talk about the plot, or the acting, or the sound editing or anything else- I must point out the obvious. Jennifer Lopez looking like that at age 50 is not only disrespectful to women everywhere but also the biological process of aging.
Yet more impressive than her abs, was her performance. By now you’ve probably heard whispers of the Oscar nomination the internet feels she is owed- and I agree. Starting with an absolute showstopper of an entrance, she grabs hold of your attention from the first second she’s on screen and doesn’t let go. Throughout the course of the film, Ramona is a chameleon- slipping into whatever role is best to earn her target’s complete devotion. A seductress to the men who pay her bills but also a best friend and mother figure to the girls she invites into her fur coat and under her wings. But when the going gets tough, she can turn on a dime and be truly ruthless. And once you see that other side of her, all of her maternal charm and warm embraces from that point take on a dangerous edge.
Constance Wu’s Destiny isn’t quite as engaging as she bounces off Ramona more often than takes center stage. But when she gets her time to shine, Destiny is not only extremely sympathetic- she earns her role as Ramona’s partner in crime.
Lili Reinhart was enjoyable and Keke Palmer is always a scene stealer in her own right, but neither of them got much development. Cardi B and Lizzo are glorious but glorified cameos. And then at one point the crew rapidly expands until you have a *vin diesel voice* family made up mostly of girls I couldn’t name even while watching the movie. But it’s clear that Constance Wu and Jennifer Lopez are the stars, and they play their parts so well that while I’m disappointed that we didn’t get more from at least Keke and Lili’s characters, it didn’t majorly diminish my feelings for the film.
A lot has been said about the benefits of a female director and I’m just going to pile on there. The nudity and the sexualization is obviously still present but the slow lingering shots of dehumanized body parts isn’t. If anything there’s so many close ups of faces at some points I wanted Constance to stop making eye contact with me. Money gets the same kind of lingering slow-mo usually reserved for breasts and butts- and I love that. There’s a beautiful cross cut montage between a strip club and an investment bank set to Gimme More which slides into Love in this Club with a cameo that is just *chef’s kiss*. (Did writer and director Lorene Scafaria like my tweet stating my admiration of this scene? YES. Am I over it? NOPE!) It’s imperative that I mention the soundtrack. It was so good it became a problem, I lost focus on the movie because I was chair dancing too hard.
Not to oversimplify, but this movie is just fun. For a movie wrangling such complex and salacious topics, it also just had a great familial sensibility. The strip club scenes are wonderful and the scams are satisfying but it’s the scenes of a happy family christmas that sticks in my memory. Despite their uneven screen time, I really do grow to care about these girls and hope everything works out even despite their felonies or whatever.
And speaking of their felonies, the disingenuous response by some male critics/viewers needs to be addressed. Movies about crimes and the people who commit them has been a source of fascination practically since movies were created. Yet suddenly with this film there’s been a wave of men grabbing their pearls about the ~crimes~ and “oh, so it’s girl power to drug and rob people now?! iF tHIs wAS AboUT MeN iT WoULdn’t bE PraISeD”. And they tweet this in front of the Breaking Bad posters with absolutely zero sense of irony. We all love movies about robbing rich people and if you pretend otherwise it’s because you don’t like the strippers being unsexy and threatening.
Despite how much I did enjoy this movie, I do have a few complaints- primarily about the pacing and run time. While the movie wasn’t overly long, there was a definite lull in the middle of the film between the introduction to the characters and the crime spree proper. The movie skips right over the 3 years in which Charlotte aka Destiny becomes a mother and there’s another unexplained gap between the end of the crime spree and the interview with Julia Stiles that serves as the framing device. For me, at least, it left a lot of unanswered questions and a bit dissatisfied on that front. Constance Wu’s bangs in the movie were a real trial to sit through- I fought hard to look at everyone else but they kept daring me to watch them flaunt all style rules and regulations.
And finally the most severe crime of all– this movie did not become a musical. The option was right there and they did not seize the day.
But in the end, these are minor gripes about a movie that leaves you with plenty to chew on and an excellent performance by Jennifer Lopez that is worth watching just on its own. So go see Sexy Oliver Twist in a theater near you.