Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson Scam Their Way Through the Trailer for The Hustle
The remake gender-swaps Frank Oz's Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Photos by Slaven Vlasic/Getty, Matt Winkelmeyer/GettyTuesday, MGM released the trailer for The Hustle, the forthcoming remake of Frank Oz’s 1988 film Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. The original film follows a small-time scammer (Steve Martin) who learns how to up his game, thanks to a high-class con artist (Michael Caine), and it even spawned an eponymous musical. Now, Rebel Wilson is stepping into the shoes of Martin’s character and Anne Hathaway (Ocean’s 8 must’ve really gotten her into reboots involving con artists) will play the Caine equivalent, as per THR.
The film is helmed by Chris Addison, a comedian who’s directed over a dozen episodes of Veep. Tony Award winner Alex Sharp, Tim Blake Nelson (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs), Ingrid Oliver (Doctor Who) and English soap star Emma Davies join Hathaway and Wilson on the bill.
The Hustle continues the unrelenting trend of remakes, and the sub-trend of gender-swapped adaptations of older films. While this can be a whole lot of fun (case in point: the new Ghostbusters), it feels like a hollow response to feminist cries for equal representation onscreen. Yes, sometimes gender-swapping classic stories lends us a fresh perspective thanks to the changed power dynamics, but how about we just make new stories written by and centering on women instead of recycling men’s old roles for womankind’s supposed benefit?
The Hustle comes to theaters on May 10. Watch the first trailer below.