Pain Hustlers Trailer is Good for What Ails You

Movies

Make sure your health insurance is paid up because Netflix has released a trailer for the upcoming crime film Pain Hustlers. Based on the book The Hard Sell: Crime and Punishment at an Opioid Startup by Evan Hughes, Pain Hustlers follows high school dropout and single mother Liza Drake, who takes a job with a low-rent pharmaceutical company and catapults it to success but finds herself enmeshed in crime and corruption. Pain Hustlers is directed by David Yates and stars Emily Blunt, Chris Evans, Andy Garcia, Catherine O’Hara, Jay Duplass, Brian D’Arcy James, and Chloe Coleman. Pain Hustlers will screen in select theaters starting on October 20, 2023, before arriving on Netflix on October 27. You can see the trailer below:

Does this look like it’s desperately trying to remind everyone of The Wolf of Wall Street, or is it just me? The fast camera, the sometimes silly visuals, the reveling in ill-gotten money, and tiptoeing around legalities all seem designed to look just like Martin Scorsese’s epic film. I know these are elements of a lot of movies, but the vibe seems like it’s trying to capture DiCaprio in the office rallying his troops or winkingly ensuring the audience that what he’s doing is “absolutely fucking not” legal. Just the same, I’ll check out Pain Hustlers. I like the cast (and am always happy when Catherine O’Hara turns up in something), and it could be an interesting story, even if it’s familiar. The plot descriptions are vague, but based on the book’s title, I assume they’re pushing opioids. I’m not overly familiar with David Yates’ work since 90% of it is Harry Potter movies, but I remember liking The Legend of Tarzan well enough. I still think Netflix is crazy for not giving these films wider (and longer) releases, but if they want to emphasize their streaming service, that works for me on this one.