REVIEW: PAIN HUSTLERS

3.5/5

The Pain From The Game.

123 Mins. Starring: Emily Blunt, Chris Evans, Chloe Coleman, Jay Duplass, Brian d'Arcy James, Catherine O'Hara & Andy Garcia. Screenplay: Wells Tower. Director: David Yates. On: Netflix.

The new dramatic turn obsession that has taken a hold of the world seems to be the pharmaceutical wars and the criminal conspiracies that run through their bloodstreams. Like all those mind-hunting documentaries that show the makings of a murderer, this fellow true crime syndicate seems to be itching at our screen swiping streaming. And of course Netflix are cashing in. After Michael Keaton and co's 'Dopesick' became a cautionary hit on Disney +, Netflix bought fellow 80s legend Matthew Broderick along for their own 'Painkiller' miniseries...and now they're not taking a single day off (sorry, Ferris). This week, the home movie giant is giving us Keaton lookalike David Yates' (the last half of 'Harry Potter' and the  'Fantastic Beasts' franchise) 'Pain Hustlers' ambition. Based on the book of the same name by Evan Hughes with an adapted screenplay by Wells Tower. Netflix are bringing out the big guns this fall, before the new year Oscar season, but is this one a good hustle, or just a pain?

Julia Roberts' 'Erin Brokovich' would be proud (somewhat) of 'Hustlers'' central character who went from a high-school dropout, straight to the pole, and then danced her way to the top of a pharmaceutical company pushing meds and medicated lies. This was not a legal hustle like the 'Molly's Game' of Jessica Chastain. Yet, the star of 'Sicario', 'A Quiet Place' and 'Oppenheimer' Emily Blunt, gives an explosive performance of power, refusing to be corrupted absolutely. It's 'Mary Poppins' darkest and best, since her sobering drunk look at 'The Woman On The Train'. The pressure is on in this 'Boiler Room' with 'The Wolf Of Wall Street' like repercussions for those living the high-life whilst they take the livelihoods, not to mention lives of others. No character in black and white captures this better than Chris Evans. Sure, he's Captain America, but on this sinking ship he torches, Evans brings back that smarmy, slick and sick acting that he ace'd in movies you Troy McClure saw him in like 'Scott Pilgrim', 'What's Your Number', 'Push' and 'The Iceman'. Sure, this might not be as good as his Netflix lead of the inspirational 'Red Sea Diving Resort' story with the late, great Michael K. Williams. But alongside 'Red One' and 'Ghosted' on Apple TV +, the post Cap career of the 'Gifted' actor is shielded from criticism or cynicism. 

Blunt faces more trauma with her daughter's ('Gunpowder Milkshake's' sweet, straight-shooter Chloe Coleman) epileptic seizures, performed here with respect and a raw look at how truly terrifying this is for helpless sufferers and parents. If that wasn't enough, 'Cyrus' actor Jay Duplass is hanging around the thread this is all dangling off with scissors like a virus. And 'West Side Story' Officer Krupke ("Krup you!") and 'Spotlight' star Brian d'Arcy James' (reuniting with Emily after going 'Into The Woods') Doc turning up into his surgery parking spot pushing something above his pay-grade. Add a couple of legends to this mixed-bag of a movie, and everything becomes much more potent. 'Beetlejuice', 'Home Alone' and of course, 'Schitt's Creek' icon Catherine O'Hara is in her element with this and Pixar's 'Elemental' making its way to Disney + this week. 

Whilst 'Godfather' Andy Garcia is incredible here like he is in all the glitz and gold glam of some of his great grey season roles (from 'Kill The Messenger' to 'The Mule'). Untouchable...even when he loses it. Sure, the sobering Soderbergh 'Side Effects' of this are that it's no 'Dopesick'. It lies more in Evans' 'The Gray Man' territory of more big name, but forgotten next week movies on N. But any true story that brings the pain behind the game of peddling pharmaceuticals to patients who wind up getting the hooks in them like morphine is enough to take us from that real world, sinking feeling, and into a more aware place, no longer kept quiet like those monsters in the dark. Hollywood holding up a mirror to this corrupt project in Central Florida, is just the right prescription to take us out of this state of affairs and save those who need a far better bedside manner than the malpractice of those just pushing pills. Time to kill all that pain. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Further Filming: 'Dopesick', 'Painkiller', 'Side Effects'.