In The Hustle, two badass women are all it takes to scam men out of millions (if not billions) of dollars.
Thanks to Anna Delvey, who notoriously grifted her way through SoHo (and ended up inspiring not one but two competing TV shows about her con) and the entire Fyre Festival fiasco, the word “scammer” has been on the tip of everyone’s tongues for at least two years now. Of course, Hollywood has followed suit and made a blockbuster for our times with The Hustle.
In this adaptation of Frank Oz’s 1988 film Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, which starred Steve Martin and Michael Caine, it appears that Rebel Wilson has met her match in Anne Hathaway. Hathaway plays a seasoned scammer who teaches Wilson “her sugar baby ways,” which include performative vulnerability, knife-throwing skills, and blending in with one’s surroundings. This is all so they can work together to swindle a young tech dynamo (played by Alex Sharp) out of his millions (or possibly billions, as Wilson points out). Why shake down so many rich men out of jewels and money, you ask? The answer is simple: because they can. Do you need a better reason than that?
“Why are women better suited for the con than men?” Hathaway asks in the movie. “Because no man will ever believe a woman is smarter than he is.”
Hathaway is no-doubt bringing her Ocean’s 8–honed heist chops to The Hustle (she was the best part of that movie, and I won’t be challenged), while Wilson delivers the riotous physical comedy she’s known for in movies like Pitch Perfect and the recently-released romantic comedy Isn’t It Romantic.
Check out the full trailer for The Hustle, below:
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It looks like scammer season has just been extended to May 10, 2019, which is when The Hustle hits theaters nationwide.
Rebel Wilson caught some heat this weekend after she incorrectly claimed to be the first plus-size woman to ever star in a romantic comedy.
It all started on Halloween when the trailer for her new movie Isn’t It Romantic dropped. The film, due out in February, centers around a woman who hits her head and suddenly wakes up in a rom-com, where she’s the object of handsome mens’ desires. The movie immediately received criticism for enforcing the problematic trope that plus-size women can only be attractive in alternate universes—something Amy Schumer’s comedy I Feel Pretty was knocked for in April. Wilson added fuel to the fire, though, when she declared on The Ellen Show, “I’m kind of proud to be the first-ever plus-size girl to be the star of the romantic comedy.”
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The social media backlash was swift. With her comments, Wilson had seemingly overlooked actresses like Queen Latifah and Mo’Nique, who have both headlined rom-coms like Last Holiday (2006), Just Wright (2010), and Phat Girlz (2006).
One Twitter user pointed this out to Wilson, writing, “I love @RebelWilson as much as the next girl, but she isn’t the first plus sized woman to play the lead in a romantic comedy. Queen Latifah and Mo’Nique have both played romcom leads ?”
To this, Wilson replied, “Hey girl! Yeah I of course know of these movies but it was questionable as to whether: 1. Technically those actresses were plus size when filming those movies or 2. Technically those films are catorgorized/billed [sic] as a studio rom-com with a sole lead. So there’s a slight grey area.”
Mo’Nique herself even called out Wilson. “Hey my sweet sister,” she tweeted. “Let’s please not allow this business to erase our talent with giving grey areas and technicalities. Take a moment and know the history. DON’T BE A PART OF ERASING IT. I wish you the best.”
“Hi Monique, it was never my intention to erase anyone else’s achievements and I adore you and Queen Latifah so so much x I support all plus size ladies and everything positive we are doing together,” Wilson said in response.
Wilson then started to block the people on Twitter criticizing her Ellen comments, including many women and writers of color. It’s so prevalent that the hashtag #RebelWilsonBlockedMe is currently circulating Twitter.
This entire issue offers a glimpse into a larger, more sinister problem in Hollywood, the media and our country alike: the consistent dismissal of the accomplishments of women of color—especially plus-size women of color.
PHOTO: Alamy
Mo’Nique in Phat Girlz.
And it goes beyond just the movie industry. Black women have consistently been disregarded in the body positivity movement, too, despite the fact they were integral in building it. Before Ashley Graham and Tess Holliday led the pack, there were models like the late Mia Amber Davis, who famously appeared in the movie Road Trip (2000), and Jordan Tesfay, the first black plus-size woman to appear in a Cover Girl ad. Both of these women remain largely unknown to the general public.
Wilson also recently stepped into the world of plus-size fashion design, and she’d do well to remember pioneers like Monif C and Qristyl Frazier, who each created clothing for that market before it was in vogue. (Also, let’s not forget the fictional clothing line Mo’Nique’s character started in Phat Girlz: the fabulously-titled “Thick Madame.”)
At this point, it seems Wilson is refusing to concede and standing firm in her argument. She later added, “It was never my intention to erase anyone else’s achievements.” But the fact of the matter is her comments did just that. As she’s no doubt seeing now, the road to Twitter hell is paved with good intentions.
Allison McGevna is an editor and writer based in New York City. You can follow her @AllieMcGev on Twitter.
2018 has been a big year for romantic comedies. Just look at the success of Crazy Rich Asians at the box office and movies like To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, Set It Up, and The Kissing Boothon Netflix for proof. And good news: It looks like next year will be just as big for the genre. That’s because the trailer for Isn’t It Romantic, which premieres February 2019, just dropped—and it looks good. Like, really good.
During an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show today (October 31), Rebel Wilson, who plays the lead, unveiled the first trailer for the film. “I had such a ball filming that,” Wilson told DeGeneres of Isn’t It Romantic, adding that she’s “proud to be the first-ever plus-sized girl to be the star of a romantic comedy.”
As for the storyline, it goes something like this: After being pessimistic about love her entire life, Wilson’s character, Natalie, finds herself trapped in her very own romantic comedy after she hits her head on a subway pole. (Yes, really.) Now that she views the world through a pair of rose-colored glasses, Natalie’s new reality is full of dance numbers, Vanessa Carlton music, and hot love interests like Liam Hemsworth. Sign me up.
PHOTO: Gotham/Getty
Oh, and did I mention that the film also stars Priyanka Chopra, Adam Devine, and Glow‘s Betty Gilpin? Like I said, this movie looks really good.
Isn’t It Romantic doesn’t hit theaters until—when else?—Valentine’s Day. Until then, you can watch the trailer, below, on repeat. Take a look:
In the wake of the Harvey Weinstein allegations, women have stepped forward to share their stories of sexual misconduct, harassment, and assault at the hands of some of Hollywood’s most influential men. Now, actress and comedian Rebel Wilson is speaking out about her #MeToo experience. On Saturday morning, Wilson posted a series of tweets detailing two incidents of sexual harassment. In her allegations, Wilson didn’t name names, but the stories she recounted were harrowing.
“I’ve been away in a ‘bubble’ of sorts creating new comedy overseas but it’s so hard to hear all these stories relating to sexual harassment and assault in Hollywood,” she began. “As you guys know, I’m a pretty strong and confident person but even I have a story to tell.”
The first incident, she says, involved a “male star in a position of power” who tried to coerce to put her finger “up his ass” while some of his friends filmed. After repeatedly telling him no and reporting him to the studio, she says she later received a call back from studio reps asking her to “be nice and support” the actor in his career—which speaks to the potential professional repercussions of being a woman who calls out sexual misconduct. She declined and has since told the story to others in the industry through the whisper network to warn them.
Then she went on to detail the other incident, involving a meeting in a hotel room with a “top director” in Hollywood. When she arrived, however, his wife called and started yelling at him for sleeping with actresses. Wilson overheard and was able to run out of the room before anything happened.
“I feel lucky that I grew up in a pro-female environment, going to an all-girls high school, and that I have such a strong sense of self and have taken self-defense classes,” she added. (It’s important to point out, however, that a strong sense of self has no correlation to whether you can be a victim of sexual harassment or assault.)
Wilson continued on a sobering note: “I had the ability to escape both incidents. I realize not everyone is as lucky.”
She ended her tweets by saying what she’ll be doing going forward—should she ever find herself in a similar situation again. “I know, moving forward, that if I witness this behavior, whether it happens to me or someone I know, I will no longer be POLITE,” she ended her tweets. “Interpret that as you will.”
