Hustlers

This pitch-black, demented action comedy, focused around a day’s trading in a pawn shop in the Deep South, is the Marmite of the movie world: you either love it or hate it!

Three seemingly separate tales are interwoven in the climactic finale, but each tale starts out in the aforementioned ramshackle, backwater pawnshop run by Alton (Vincent D’Onofrio) and assisted by Johnson (Chi McBride).

The first tale, titled The Shotgun (The Road To White Gold) involves a group of redneck meth-addicts, led by the late Paul Walker (The Fast And The Furious) as Raw Dog, and his equally strung out sidekick Randy (Kevin Rankin). When acquaintance Vernon (Lukas Haas) pawns their shotgun for gasoline money, Raw Dog and Rankin set out searching for suitable alternative weapons in order to rob their Crystal Meth dealer. But it’s not just the constant hallucinatory tripping that gets in the way of putting plan into action… for Randy accidentally knocks over Vernon with his car and leaves him for dead. The accident quickly snowballs into one of the most insane scenarios of the whole film… in turns hilarious, irritating, shockingly brutal, and with an unexpected twist.

The second tale, titled The Ring (Caged Love), is fronted by Matt Dillon and is without doubt the sickest of the lot. When newlywed couple Cyndi (Pell James) and Richard (M. Dillon) enter the pawnshop in order to trade Cyndi’s diamond ring for much needed cash, Richard spots a very familiar looking ring amongst the shop’s bling display. The ring happens to be the wedding ring which belonged to Richard’s first wife… who bizarrely vanished some years ago without trace nor reason. A stirred-up and emotional Richard blackmails Alton into revealing how he came into possession of the ring, then leaves new wife Cyndi by the roadside and sets out to search for his missing first wife… as you do. Enter the home of deranged Johnny Shaw (Elijah Wood), a seemingly innocent looking lad but as perverted as hell and who keeps kidnapped women locked in cages like animals in a zoo. After a particular graphic and gory torture scene, Johnny reveals to Richard where his wife is kept. Richard releases her, then releases the other captured women who set off into the horizon stark-naked, and covered in mud and their own dirt. Hmmm… wouldn’t it make more sense to call the FBI or something? Obviously not! Driving along the road to apparent safety, Richard and Cyndi start to argue, she throws the ring out of the window, he is distracted by it and collides head on with another car. Cyndi dies instantly, Richard breathes his last a short while later.

The final story, titled The Medallion (Split Ends At The Crossroads), sees Brendan Fraser in top-form as dorky Elvis impersonator Ricky, who’s just been dumped by girlfriend Theresa (Ashlee Simpson) at a roadside diner. Please note that in this film, folks seem to get dumped by a roadside. In order to make it to his big performance at the county fair, Ricky is forced to pawn his treasured Elvis medallion, once owned by ‘The King’ himself! En route, he decides to get his sideburns trimmed but the barber takes off too much. Infuriated, Ricky walks to the barber shop two doors down, but upon hearing that he went to the other barber first, the second barber nearly slashes his neck. There’s also an on-going joke running through the episode were various blokes ask Ricky whether he’s a Liberace impersonator, or a magician, and so forth… It’s a dumb joke which never takes off, especially as it’s so blatantly obvious that Ricky’s costume/wig/shades are 100% Elvis. And let’s not forget that ‘The King’ himself was born in America’s Deep South, surely even the biggest hicks would recognise an Elvis impersonator when they see one! What was scriptwriter Adam Minarovich (The Walking Dead) thinking?
So anyway, after various further mishaps, Ricky finally arrives at the fair, but the show doesn’t go according to plan what with his tape recorder giving in. It’s only when a little miracle occurs that Ricky begins to sing ‘Amazing Grace’ and all falls into place… and it’s here that the three stories become entwined. I won’t give away how, only that once again, it doesn’t make much sense… though admittedly the explosive climax is indeed rather funny.

It has been suggested that director Wayne Kramer’s Hustlers draws comparisons to some of Tarantino’s early work, though I beg to differ. No matter how violent or twisted or over the top, Tarantino’s stories always hold credibility and believability. This is not the case with Hustlers, where more often than not plots don’t quite add up. That said, Hustlers makes for the perfect popcorn movie (covered in Marmite), and is worth watching for the ace performances of its stars alone.

An audio commentary with director Wayne Kramer and writer Adam Minarovich will appear as a bonus feature on all formats (DVD, Blu-ray, Download).