Hustlers Review: 8 Ups & 3 Downs

5. It Remarkably Manages To Remain Sex Industry Positive

This could have been an exercise in turning a camera on the seedy underbelly of the sex industry and using the opportunity to make every character a grotesque caricature in the name of making some moral stand against it all. But that isn't what any of this is about and it's great to see that there's no tutting and eye-rolling at the industry.

Sure, we get a look at why some of the women are drawn into the industry out of necessity, but there's even an air of the aspirational about it and the film is clearly not afraid of suggesting that stripping can be a choice. A condescending tone in that respect would have been entirely unwelcome and the only time you're really invited to explore the perception of strippers comes when Destiny has to drop her daughter off at school in her "fishing" outfit, which is covered in the blood of a mark. And the film shows enough restraint not to say the looks she gets are just about her outfit.

Obviously, the industry ends up being the doorway to criminality but the writing is clever enough to differentiate the two and you really have to admire the restraint shown. In fact, there's a lot to admire about the film's refusal to make your decisions for you...