Reviews & Ratings for
"Hustle" Conning the Artists (2007)

The very worst fails and very best scenes, 25 January 2013

Author: Siiri Rebane from Estonia

(Actually, my vote is 'awful' and 'excellent'.)

Really, shame on research person, if the film-makers had such - ? I mean this Russian story part. For your information: there are no native Russian-speaking people of African origin. (Even though paternal grandfather of great Russian poet Alexander Pushkin's mother was Ethiopian.) So Billy passing as Russian worker is really pathetic, esp. in front of businessman dealing frequently with Russian poachers. He should know better. If Billy were Asian, it might've pass, as Russian empire/Soviet Union included Asian nations (some of them around Caspian Sea, where beluga lives). And why is this caviar-importer not speaking Russian? If it is language at all, definitely not Russian, what he tries on Billy. And currency of choice for Russian workers is definitely not Russian roubles. It's American dollars, unofficially accepted and preferred, especially on black market and such in Russia. (Btw, even false dollars have status of black-market currency in Russia - they are worth one third of dollar, according to modern Russian movie Odna lyubov na million.) You see, Hustle is broadcast even on previous Russian-Soviet empire territory, to say nothing about accessibility via internet, and such mistakes do not go unnoticed. Epic fail.

Excellent part is definitely final, but I won't put any spoilers here, and I liked very much this long, heavily psychologically loaded scene in Eddie's bar. It's so overlong and stretched that mere quantity becomes new quality; as shorter it might've been just plain boring, but such as it is, it comes out of other side, with bit of absurd quality. This part, and all, not mentioned above, are among the very best of Hustler series.

So I am really in two minds about this episode, literally.

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