Hustlers | 2019 | R | – 8.4.10

Why is “Hustlers” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “pervasive sexual material, drug content, language and nudity.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes many scenes of female nudity and exotic dance sequences including lap dances and references to oral sex, and a fully nude man and several dressing room scenes with nude and partially nude women; many scenes of men being drugged, a couple of tussles and arguments, references to a house fire and child abandonment, and drug and alcohol use; and over 65 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.”

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Inspired by a New York Magazine article: Several exotic dance club entertainers are determined to make it on their own by separating wealthy Wall Street clients from their money. However, after the 2008 recession, with ready cash becoming less abundant, the dancers decide to instead drug unsuspecting men and then steal their money. With Constance Wu, Jennifer Lopez, Julia Stiles, Keke Palmer, Lili Reinhart, Cardi B and Lizzo. Directed by Lorene Scafaria. [Running Time: 1:49]

Hustlers SEX/NUDITY 8

 – A fully nude man is shown lying on his stomach unconscious and we see his bare back, buttocks and legs; when he is carried to a car, we see his chest, abdomen and genitals and when he is placed on a gurney, we see his chest, abdomen and genitals again. Women are shown in various stages of undress in several dressing room scenes (topless, sheer covers, severely low-cut, thongs, etc.); we see bare breasts, bare buttocks, cleavage, bare abdomens, backs and legs in each scene. A woman dances on stage around a pole and spreads her legs wide apart revealing pubic hair. A woman enters a man’s office while he is on the phone and watching what appears to be a pornographic video; two topless women are seen moving around a room where a man is seated on a sofa (their bare breasts, abdomens, backs and legs are seen). A woman drops her top while dancing and reveals her bare breasts. An extended dance sequence shows a woman on-stage: she spins around a pole, drops her robe (we see her bare back, buttocks, cleavage, abdomen, hips and legs), spreads her legs, shakes her bare buttocks toward the audience, does a deep split and thrusts against the stage floor as men watch, cheer and put money in the straps of her costume.
► Several dance club scenes show scantily clad women dancing for men, moving suggestively near them and thrusting on their laps, dancing together with other women caressing each other and undressing each other (bare breasts, buttocks, abdomens, backs and legs are seen). Two women dance together suggestively in a private room as a man watches and lays money on the sofa next to him; the women caress each other and one removes the top of the other, then moves down to her abdomen and touches the straps of her underwear as the man watches (cleavage, abdomen, buttocks, back and legs are seen). A scantily clad woman seated on an older man’s lap thrusts rhythmically as the man smiles. A scantily clad woman crawls across the laps of several men seated in a dance club (we see cleavage, bare buttocks and legs to the hips). Three scantily clad women dance on and around two men in a private room; one woman is sent out of the room and the man says, “We’re just not feeling you.” Women wearing skimpy outfits dance on stage around a pole while men in an audience throw money on the stage in a number of scenes. A DJ calls out for women to parade through a club for men to admire and have them entertain them; we see the women walk through a crowded bar area. A woman gives another woman lessons on pole dancing and they spin around a pole in various poses (cleavage, bare abdomen, back, legs and buttocks are seen). Two women wearing skimpy outfits sit on a roof and smoke cigarettes and one wraps the other in the bottom of her long fur coat to keep her warm (non-sexual).
► A woman does a private dance for a man and he tells her to touch him and that he will pay her to do more (we understand that she did do more but that he didn’t pay what he said he would pay her). A man in a dance club audience calls for a woman to take another man “For a good time” and hands her his credit card; they leave the room and it is implied that she dances for him privately (we do not see this).
► A man kisses a woman’s neck and says, “Let’s go [F-word deleted] in the bathroom.” A woman tells another woman that exotic dancers are performing oral sex on men for “$300 a pop.” A woman tells another woman how to make more money in a dance club. A woman talks about other women having been in “Hustler” magazine and “Playboy” and that she was a centerfold once. A woman talks about knowing her clients and that some “Like it dirty and others like it a little dirty.” A song’s lyrics include, “Naked as sin.”
► A woman squeezes the breasts of another woman and they talk about the doctor that performed her enhancement. A woman licks a sex aid and jokes about having sex with it. A woman cuts the string off a tampon for another woman and she tells her that she will have to “dig it out” later. A woman holds a pregnancy test strip and we understand that she is pregnant.

Hustlers VIOLENCE/GORE 4

 – After being drugged we see a fully nude man (please see the Sex/Nudity category for more details) lying on his stomach on a cement patio around a swimming pool after jumping from the roof; two women carry the man to a car and take him to a hospital where he is placed on a gurney by medical staff (we see blood on the man’s head). After being drugged a man stands up and collapses into a glass table (it shatters and he lies on the floor with no visible injuries). An unconscious man sits up in a car and woman sitting next to him punches him in the face and knocks him out.
► A woman puts a powdered drug into a glass of liquor and a man drinks it not knowing that it is drugged; we see him being carried into a club by three women later and he is nearly unconscious. Two women wrestle over a telephone and one yells and calls the other names. Several women drug the drinks of several men in different scenes and we see the men inebriated as they are taken to a dance club and we understand that the women charge their credit cards (corporate and personal) for a lot of money each time. A man and a woman argue bitterly in a few scenes and she throws him out of their apartment in one such scene (we see their young child crying). Two women argue and one yells and shoves the other. A woman finds her mother dead in a chair in her home and she cries; we see a graveside funeral where mourners cry. A woman has a nightmare that she is in a car without a driver as it speeds toward a truck in an intersection. Several women are shown being arrested and held at gunpoint by police; officers burst through the door of one woman’s apartment and she tries to run but is held and taken away (she vomits as they lead her out of her apartment and we see goo).
► We hear that a man’s house burned to the ground, that his wife left him with their autistic son, and that he was fired from his job after unauthorized charges appeared on his corporate credit card. A woman talks about preparing a cocktail of ketamine and MDMA to intoxicate men into spending money liberally. A woman talks about drugging people. Two women experiment with pills and liquid drugs mixing them into a concoction to use on men and they cook, melt, boil and crush the drugs. A woman cuts the string off a tampon for another woman and she tells her that she will “have to dig that out later.” A woman says, “Motherhood is a mental illness.” We understand that a woman’s mother abandoned her when she was very young. A woman yells about Wall Street and that, “they stole from everybody.” A comment is made about being “grossed out.” People talk about the Wall Street crash and people being unemployed. A woman asks if a group is a “cult.”
► Whenever a woman becomes nervous or scared, she vomits and we see her vomit several times with goo, splatter and retching each time; a woman vomits into a garbage can (we see goo and hear retching), a woman vomits next to a car and then inside the car (we see goo and hear retching). A woman says, “I think I’m gonna throw up” a few times. People talk about a woman vomiting. A woman is shown with blood on her shirt in a couple of scenes.

Hustlers LANGUAGE 10

 – About 69 F-words and its derivatives, 2 obscene hand gestures, 9 sexual references, 8 scatological terms, 12 anatomical terms, 9 mild obscenities, 1 derogatory term for African-Americans, name-calling (crazy, idiot, weird, disgusting, hurricanes, tease, copycats, junkie, coke-head, stupid, reckless, liar, paranoid, ungrateful), 1 religious profanity (GD), 19 religious exclamations (e.g. Oh My God, Thank God, God, Jesus Christ, God Bless Gary). | profanity glossary |

Hustlers SUBSTANCE USE

 – A woman puts a powdered drug into a glass of liquor and a man drinks it not knowing that it is drugged (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details), a man snorts cocaine in a club, a man and a woman snort cocaine, three women surround a man seated at a bar and they order shots of liquor as he snorts cocaine and drinks and the women throw their shots over their shoulders (this happens many times), while experimenting on combining two drugs two women sample a concoction and we see them sound asleep on the floor of the kitchen, a woman talks about preparing a cocktail of ketamine and MDMA to intoxicate men into spending money liberally, while interviewing people for a job a woman says that she doesn’t want any “junkies or criminals,” a woman uses an inhaler and we understand that she has asthma, and woman talks about drugging people. Many club scenes show men drinking glasses of liquor or beer, a glass of whiskey is shown on a bathroom sink as a woman prepares for work, several women pop bottles of champagne and drink in a few celebratory scenes, women drink wine with a meal, and two women are shown with glasses of wine in an apartment. Two women smoke cigarettes on a rooftop, and a woman smokes cigarettes in several scenes.

Hustlers DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Survival, single parenting, Wall Street crash, exotic dancers, grand larceny, child abandonment, stigmas, revenge, breaking the law, consequences, greed, power, corruption, playing by the rules.

Hustlers MESSAGE

 – Everybody’s hustling — one way or another.