Hustlers Review: 8 Ups & 3 Downs

2. We Don't Get Enough Of Julia Stiles

The role of the interviewer in a film like this is a fairly unglamorous one because you're never going to really get very much of the story to play with unless you find yourself inserted into the story. But then that's a different kind of film like The End Of The Tour or Almost Famous.

Julia Stiles here is perfectly fine as the interviewer Elizabeth and she would have been great if the film had chosen literally just to have her be the ears for Destiny's story, but in using her a little more, she ends up feeling under-nourished.

At the end of the film, Frost/Nixon style, Destiny rings her to ask about what Ramona said about her and we get a lovely epilogue, but at the same time, it feels like Elizabeth is being invited to offer her take to see how her morality reflects that of the dancers. As if, ultimately, it's her who has the last real say (and that comes up a few times). Unfortunately, because she's not really present in the story and all we get of her is flashes of her life, there's no way to get behind that decision.

It would have been better to either not do that at all or to have a little more insight into who she is.