Few stars have been more unfairly prejudiced than Jennifer Lopez, whom Almost all possible stigmas have fallen on him that one assigns to stellar singers who also try their luck as an actress. She has also dabbled in the romantic comedy genre, which many audiences have always looked down on, and has been quite successful in that field.
But Lopez has always had much more talent and charisma than many have been willing to recognize, and does not fall into those problems that many of these prejudices suggest. Her ability as an actress has already been left beyond any doubt in films like ‘A very dangerous romance‘ by Soderbergh, but he managed to vindicate himself in one of the surprises of recent years, which you can also see on Prime Video. It’s about ‘Wall Street Scammers’.
who steals from a thief
This stupendous criminal drama, with commercial adult film ambitions and also with certain influences from authors such as Martin Scorsese (the film was originally written for him to direct), tells a fascinating true story narrated in a well-shared New York Magazine article. In fact, the very figure of the reporter who wrote the piece enters the story, giving it an interesting framework.
The protagonist is played by Constance Wu, a young striptease dancer who goes to work at a place near the Wall Street area, where the tips are succulent. She receives the advice of the most popular dancer in the place, and together they manage to live periods of bonanza… Until the economic crisis of 2008 broke out and they were left in a rather complicated situation. The Lehman Brothers catastrophe has affected its clientele, the premises and its savings.
There is only one solution left for them: try to hunt down those few who slipped away and took advantage of the crisis, drugging them and then extorting huge amounts of money from them. Almost could be a story of disheveled female Robin Hoodbut the portrait that the director and screenwriter Lorene Scafaria is more complex and interesting than that.
‘Wall Street Hustlers’: Gimme more
That the project would go through the hands of Scorsese or even Adam McKay -who produces the tape- is not by chance. his way of address the crime genre and morally ambiguous characters It is clearly influenced by films like ‘One of Ours’ or ‘The Big Short’, and the narration is agile but precise, leaving no room for boredom. It even has an interesting exploration of the figure of Judas, which is a very frequent type of character in Scorsesian mythology.
The film knows how to follow its protagonists with interest without necessarily judging them. Neither paint them as heroines nor as evil villains. Its interesting greed progression images – using Britney Spears’ ‘Gimme More’ as if it were ‘Gimme Shelter’ – are more revealing about the system the protagonists tried to storm. Y Lopez gives one of those performances to rememberhaving perfectly measured her character and taking advantage of her own charisma as a star to make the fascination around her work.