Pain Hustlers is a 2023 drama film directed by David Yates and based on the 2022 book of the same name by Evan Hughes. The film stars Emily Blunt, Chris Evans, Andy García, Catherine O’Hara, Jay Duplass, and Brian d’Arcy James.
A medicine that relieves cancer pain is a good thing, right?
This is where the story of medicine, sales, and a medication containing harmful compounds like fentanyl begins, with prescriptions causing the harm portrayed in the movie.
The film blends drama, comedy, and a lot of rhythm to create a swift, coherent, and entertaining narrative. It doesn’t invent anything, but it still manages to entertain and provoke thoughts about the industry and business behind medicine.
The best part (as expected) is Emily Blunt in a role that seems tailor-made for her.
The major issue with the film is the difficulty in finding a likable character that we can empathize with.
A medicine that relieves cancer pain is a good thing, right?
This is where the story of medicine, sales, and a medication containing harmful compounds like fentanyl begins, with prescriptions causing the harm portrayed in the movie.
The film blends drama, comedy, and a lot of rhythm to create a swift, coherent, and entertaining narrative. It doesn’t invent anything, but it still manages to entertain and provoke thoughts about the industry and business behind medicine.
The best part (as expected) is Emily Blunt in a role that seems tailor-made for her.
The major issue with the film is the difficulty in finding a likable character that we can empathize with.
- 10/27/2023
- by Martin Cid
- Martin Cid Magazine - Movies
Britt Rentschler is the star of Pretty Problems, a smart and hilarious new indie adult comedy which she also produced and helped write with screenwriter and co-star Michael Tennant. In this episode, she talks about their lengthy commitment to making the story work, building their characters with depth, and the risky but triumphant decision to cast their talented friends in supporting roles rather than famous actors who might have secured more money. She describes how her apprehension toward playing the lead role of Lindsay actually benefited her performance, the ways director Kestrin Pantera brought the best out of everyone, plus […]
The post “This Is as Grassroots as It Gets”: Pretty Problems Star Britt Rentschler, Back To One Episode 225 first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “This Is as Grassroots as It Gets”: Pretty Problems Star Britt Rentschler, Back To One Episode 225 first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 10/18/2022
- by Peter Rinaldi
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Britt Rentschler is the star of Pretty Problems, a smart and hilarious new indie adult comedy which she also produced and helped write with screenwriter and co-star Michael Tennant. In this episode, she talks about their lengthy commitment to making the story work, building their characters with depth, and the risky but triumphant decision to cast their talented friends in supporting roles rather than famous actors who might have secured more money. She describes how her apprehension toward playing the lead role of Lindsay actually benefited her performance, the ways director Kestrin Pantera brought the best out of everyone, plus […]
The post “This Is as Grassroots as It Gets”: Pretty Problems Star Britt Rentschler, Back To One Episode 225 first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “This Is as Grassroots as It Gets”: Pretty Problems Star Britt Rentschler, Back To One Episode 225 first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 10/18/2022
- by Peter Rinaldi
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Class divisions that assume macrocosmic significance in Ruben Östlund’s “Triangle of Sadness” remain microcosmically scaled in “Pretty Problems,” another cleverly discomfiting, festival-blessed comedy hitting theaters on Oct. 13. Kestrin Pantera’s third directorial feature, which won the Audience Award at SXSW, also places a less-advantaged young couple in an enclave of the very rich. Here, however, the upscale slumming is not free, but rather at their expense — a cruel-gamesmanship setup that (as our hero duly notes) suggests the usual horror-movie agenda of “They’re gonna kill us.”
That teased direction is not where the film eventually goes, and indeed the script (hatched by several lead performers here) manages to keep upending expectations to the end. The result is a fresh mix of social satire and relationship dissection with a saving dollop of heart. IFC is opening it on about 30 U.S. theater screens, simultaneous with on-demand platforms.
Opening with a...
That teased direction is not where the film eventually goes, and indeed the script (hatched by several lead performers here) manages to keep upending expectations to the end. The result is a fresh mix of social satire and relationship dissection with a saving dollop of heart. IFC is opening it on about 30 U.S. theater screens, simultaneous with on-demand platforms.
Opening with a...
- 10/7/2022
- by Dennis Harvey
- Variety Film + TV
Sometimes, the grass really is greener. That’s a lesson that Jack and Lindsay (Michael Tennant and Britt Rentschler) learn in “Pretty Problems,” though it’s not like their side of the fence was offering much competition. The young married couple is stuck in the kind of rut that nobody expects to hit at such an early age. She’s a wannabe fashion designer who had to put her dreams on whole and work a retail job, while he’s a lovable schlub selling solar panels door-to-door while making sure his probation officer (who’s tragically named Doug) doesn’t send him to jail. They have a nonexistent sex life despite their best efforts, and appear to be floating in a kind of domestic purgatory that isn’t easily escaped.
That all changes when Cat (JJ Nolan) wanders into the boutique where Lindsay works. The vape-loving, wine-guzzling trophy wife is...
That all changes when Cat (JJ Nolan) wanders into the boutique where Lindsay works. The vape-loving, wine-guzzling trophy wife is...
- 10/5/2022
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
"I thought she was joking when she said she invited you up here." IFC Films has revealed an official trailer for an indie comedy titled Pretty Problems, which originally premiered at this year's SXSW Film Festival in the spring. Jack and Lindsay are invited on a getaway trip with affluent strangers: down the rabbit hole, and into the most unhinged weekend of their lives. Can their relationship survive? This wacky, wild comedy takes a look at the difference between the "haves" and "have nots" on this party trip to a Sonoma Chateau. The film stars Britt Rentschler and Michael Tennant as Lindsay and Jack, with J.J. Nolan, Charlotte Ubben, Graham Outerbridge, Alex Klein, Clayton Froning, Katarina Hughes, Vanessa Chester, and Amy Maghera. This looks like it's trying to make fun of "pretty people" and all their crazy problems, but it also looks so ludicrous it may not even be fun?...
- 8/18/2022
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
The premise of “Pretty Problems” is that two millennials, Lindsay (Britt Rentschler) and Jack (Michael Tennant), are stuck in a rut in their marriage and go on a long weekend to wine country. Invited by an ultra-wealthy housewife who has a vape in one hand and a glass of wine in the other, they find themselves in for a weekend alongside a self-made billionaire who *knows* how successful he is and an actress/model who is more like arm candy for the trust fund kid in attendance.
Continue reading ‘Pretty Problems’ Trailer & Poster: A Comedic Look At The Millennial Experience [Exclusive] at The Playlist.
Continue reading ‘Pretty Problems’ Trailer & Poster: A Comedic Look At The Millennial Experience [Exclusive] at The Playlist.
- 8/18/2022
- by Jamie Rogers
- The Playlist
People often fall in love with the potential of new relationships, both romances and friendships, until they’re eventually faced with the truth about the actual circumstance of the other person’s life. The protagonists of the new romantic comedy-drama, ‘Pretty Problems,’ down-on-their-luck married couple Lindsay and Jack, feel as though they may not to be able […]
The post SXSW 2022 Interview: Kestrin Pantera, Britt Rentschler and Michael Tennant Talk Pretty Problems (Exclusive) appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post SXSW 2022 Interview: Kestrin Pantera, Britt Rentschler and Michael Tennant Talk Pretty Problems (Exclusive) appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 5/31/2022
- by Karen Benardello
- ShockYa
Exclusive: Kestrin Pantera’s satirical takedown of the rich elite, Pretty Problems, has been acquired by IFC Films following the pic’s Narrative Spotlight Audience Award win at SXSW. The pic will hit theaters and VOD this year.
IFC is taking all global rights to the pic written by Michael Tennant, Britt Rentschler and Charlotte Ubben, who also star in the movie alongside JJ Nolan, Graham Outerbridge, Alex Klein, Clayton Froning, Katarina Hughes, Vanessa Chester and Amy Maghera. Katya Alexander, Rentschler, Ubben and Tennant also produce.
Lindsay (Rentschler) is as bored with her marriage to Jack (Tennant) as she is working in a boutique — until Cat Flax (Nolan) swoops into the store, showering her with flattery and conspicuous displays of wealth. The pair bond over a bottle of wine, and Lindsay arrives home flushed with excitement about her rich new friend. Jack reluctantly agrees to accept Cat’s invitation for a weekend away,...
IFC is taking all global rights to the pic written by Michael Tennant, Britt Rentschler and Charlotte Ubben, who also star in the movie alongside JJ Nolan, Graham Outerbridge, Alex Klein, Clayton Froning, Katarina Hughes, Vanessa Chester and Amy Maghera. Katya Alexander, Rentschler, Ubben and Tennant also produce.
Lindsay (Rentschler) is as bored with her marriage to Jack (Tennant) as she is working in a boutique — until Cat Flax (Nolan) swoops into the store, showering her with flattery and conspicuous displays of wealth. The pair bond over a bottle of wine, and Lindsay arrives home flushed with excitement about her rich new friend. Jack reluctantly agrees to accept Cat’s invitation for a weekend away,...
- 4/4/2022
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Theatrical, VoD release planned for later this year.
IFC Films has acquired worldwide rights from to up SXSW audience award winner Pretty Problems.
Kestrin Pantera’s film stars Britt Rentschler as a woman bored in her marriage who befriends a charming affluent woman who invites her and her husband to a wild weekend getaway. Michael Tennant also stars and the cast includes JJ Nolan, Charlotte Ubben and Graham Outerbridge.
Tennant, Rentschler and Ubben co-wrote the screenplay to Pretty Problems, which won the Narrative Spotlight audience award last month at the in-person festival.
Katya Alexander, Rentschler, Ubben, and Tennant served as...
IFC Films has acquired worldwide rights from to up SXSW audience award winner Pretty Problems.
Kestrin Pantera’s film stars Britt Rentschler as a woman bored in her marriage who befriends a charming affluent woman who invites her and her husband to a wild weekend getaway. Michael Tennant also stars and the cast includes JJ Nolan, Charlotte Ubben and Graham Outerbridge.
Tennant, Rentschler and Ubben co-wrote the screenplay to Pretty Problems, which won the Narrative Spotlight audience award last month at the in-person festival.
Katya Alexander, Rentschler, Ubben, and Tennant served as...
- 4/4/2022
- ScreenDaily
Theatrical, VoD release planned for later this year.
IFC Films has acquired worldwide rights from to up SXSW audience award winner Pretty Problems.
Kestrin Pantera’s film stars Britt Rentschler as a woman bored in her marriage who befriends a charming affluent woman who invites her and her husband to a wild weekend getaway. Michael Tennant also stars and the cast includes JJ Nolan, Charlotte Ubben and Graham Outerbridge.
Tennant, Rentschler and Ubben co-wrote the screenplay to Pretty Problems, which won the Narrative Spotlight audience award last month at the in-person festival.
Katya Alexander, Rentschler, Ubben, and Tennant served as...
IFC Films has acquired worldwide rights from to up SXSW audience award winner Pretty Problems.
Kestrin Pantera’s film stars Britt Rentschler as a woman bored in her marriage who befriends a charming affluent woman who invites her and her husband to a wild weekend getaway. Michael Tennant also stars and the cast includes JJ Nolan, Charlotte Ubben and Graham Outerbridge.
Tennant, Rentschler and Ubben co-wrote the screenplay to Pretty Problems, which won the Narrative Spotlight audience award last month at the in-person festival.
Katya Alexander, Rentschler, Ubben, and Tennant served as...
- 4/4/2022
- ScreenDaily
Updated, 12:23 Pm: South by Southwest Conference and Festivals today announced the Audience Award winners for the 29th SXSW Film Festival, with the Patton Oswalt comedy I Love My Dad, FX’s comedy series Atlanta, Sony Pictures Classics’ music doc The Return of Tanya Tucker – Featuring Brandi Carlile and AMC’s drama series 61st Street coming in as notable recipients.
I Love My Dad was previously awarded the Narrative Feature Competition Grand Jury Award, and today took home the Narrative Feature Competition Audience Award. Atlanta won out in the Headliners section, with The Return of Tanya Tucker prevailing in 24 Beats Per Second, and 61st Street taking the Audience Award for Episodic Premieres.
The SXSW Audience Awards follow the previously-announced 2022 Jury Awards, as well as the 40 Years of Massive Talent Award, which was presented to Nicolas Cage at the festival screening of his Lionsgate pic The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent on Saturday night.
I Love My Dad was previously awarded the Narrative Feature Competition Grand Jury Award, and today took home the Narrative Feature Competition Audience Award. Atlanta won out in the Headliners section, with The Return of Tanya Tucker prevailing in 24 Beats Per Second, and 61st Street taking the Audience Award for Episodic Premieres.
The SXSW Audience Awards follow the previously-announced 2022 Jury Awards, as well as the 40 Years of Massive Talent Award, which was presented to Nicolas Cage at the festival screening of his Lionsgate pic The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent on Saturday night.
- 3/23/2022
- by Valerie Complex and Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Cat (JJ Nolan) loves shopping. She likes to go out and splash out, pick up something new and exciting. She’s impulsive. She likes clothes, food, wine. Sometimes she goes out and acquires a new person.
Lindsay (Britt Rentschler) and Jack (Michael Tennant) have been struggling with numerous small problems which have gradually got them down and put pressure on their marriage. She’s frustrated in her jon at a clothing store but feels trapped there because he’s unemployed. He’s on probation after a petty offence, required to submit to regular check-ups and blood tests. Though not threatening to her, he has anger issues, and she worries about people setting him off. With all this going on, sex between them isn’t really working anymore. They love each other but it’s hard to claw one’s way out of that kind of mess.
It’s the sadness which excites Cat.
Lindsay (Britt Rentschler) and Jack (Michael Tennant) have been struggling with numerous small problems which have gradually got them down and put pressure on their marriage. She’s frustrated in her jon at a clothing store but feels trapped there because he’s unemployed. He’s on probation after a petty offence, required to submit to regular check-ups and blood tests. Though not threatening to her, he has anger issues, and she worries about people setting him off. With all this going on, sex between them isn’t really working anymore. They love each other but it’s hard to claw one’s way out of that kind of mess.
It’s the sadness which excites Cat.
- 3/18/2022
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
A couple have a wild weekend away in Pretty Problems, Kestrin Pantera’s laugh-out-loud comedy premiering at SXSW.
Written by Michael Tennant, who also co-stars, it’s a witty look at wealth, privilege and relationships over a couple of days of hedonism in wine country.
Lindsay (Britt Rentschler) is as bored with her marriage to Jack (Tennant) as she is working in a boutique — until Cat Flax (JJ Nolan) swoops into the store, showering her with flattery and conspicuous displays of wealth. The pair bond over a bottle of wine, and Lindsay arrives home flushed with excitement about her rich new friend. Jack reluctantly agrees to accept Cat’s invitation for a weekend away, and they jump into a car and drive into another world: of butlers, gift bags, massages and astronomically expensive wine their hosts forget even buying.
Cat’s married to Matt Flax (Graham Outerbridge), a self-made billionaire...
Written by Michael Tennant, who also co-stars, it’s a witty look at wealth, privilege and relationships over a couple of days of hedonism in wine country.
Lindsay (Britt Rentschler) is as bored with her marriage to Jack (Tennant) as she is working in a boutique — until Cat Flax (JJ Nolan) swoops into the store, showering her with flattery and conspicuous displays of wealth. The pair bond over a bottle of wine, and Lindsay arrives home flushed with excitement about her rich new friend. Jack reluctantly agrees to accept Cat’s invitation for a weekend away, and they jump into a car and drive into another world: of butlers, gift bags, massages and astronomically expensive wine their hosts forget even buying.
Cat’s married to Matt Flax (Graham Outerbridge), a self-made billionaire...
- 3/14/2022
- by Anna Smith
- Deadline Film + TV
Directed by SXSW alum Kestrin Pantera (Mother’s Little Helpers), Pretty Problems is yet another indie picture about a floundering 30-something couple stuck in a rut while others around them seem to have it easy from the privilege of headstarts. Perhaps this is a condition of living in places where the haves and have-nots are so extreme, with a robust service industry that caters to the old money, new money, and Henry segment.
In that regard, yes, having multiple homes, an addiction to $500 bottles of wine, a support staff, and kids that can be outsourced to an au pair really are pretty problems to have, especially in light of real suffering outside these bubbles. This is not to say Pretty Problems isn’t fun in passages—it just feels expressly tailor-made for an SXSW audience and the echo chamber of the festival landscape.
The plot is fairly straightforward. Couple Lindsay...
In that regard, yes, having multiple homes, an addiction to $500 bottles of wine, a support staff, and kids that can be outsourced to an au pair really are pretty problems to have, especially in light of real suffering outside these bubbles. This is not to say Pretty Problems isn’t fun in passages—it just feels expressly tailor-made for an SXSW audience and the echo chamber of the festival landscape.
The plot is fairly straightforward. Couple Lindsay...
- 3/14/2022
- by John Fink
- The Film Stage
A gay urbanite travels home to visit a family that does not know about their loved one’s sexual orientation; it’s a situation that’s played for comedy in “Happiest Season,” but in “Uncle Frank,” writer-director Alan Ball mines the situation mostly for drama, although not without his signature wit.
Those moments that land, whether funny or moving, occur when Ball isn’t getting in his own way and instead trusts in the characters he’s written and the actors who are performing them. Overall, the film works, but there are times during this road-trip saga where one wishes Ball would apply the brakes.
It’s the fall of 1972, and Beth Bledsoe is entering NYU as a freshman. Her uncle Frank (Paul Bettany) teaches there; on a trip home four years earlier, he encouraged young Beth not to follow the set paths laid out for her by their small town,...
Those moments that land, whether funny or moving, occur when Ball isn’t getting in his own way and instead trusts in the characters he’s written and the actors who are performing them. Overall, the film works, but there are times during this road-trip saga where one wishes Ball would apply the brakes.
It’s the fall of 1972, and Beth Bledsoe is entering NYU as a freshman. Her uncle Frank (Paul Bettany) teaches there; on a trip home four years earlier, he encouraged young Beth not to follow the set paths laid out for her by their small town,...
- 11/25/2020
- by Alonso Duralde
- The Wrap
One of the people who’s made long-form television drama arguably more interesting as a whole than its mainstream big-screen equivalent in recent years, Alan Ball has underlined his superior comfort with that format in the few theatrical features he’s made to date. His screenplay for “American Beauty,” which Sam Mendes directed, was brilliant but glib; as writer-director of 2007’s “Towelhead,” he couldn’t quite make the complicated agenda of Alicia Erian’s novel gel in two-hour form.
His first such enterprise since, the somewhat autobiographically inspired “Uncle Frank,” hits a more successful balance between ensemble seriocomedy, Big Issues and a somewhat pressure-cooked plot. Set in the early ’70s, it casts the reliably deft Paul Bettany as a gay man forced to confront the Southern family to whom he’s stayed closeted — though they’ve managed to communicate tacit disapproval of his being “different” anyhow. Well-cast and gracefully handled,...
His first such enterprise since, the somewhat autobiographically inspired “Uncle Frank,” hits a more successful balance between ensemble seriocomedy, Big Issues and a somewhat pressure-cooked plot. Set in the early ’70s, it casts the reliably deft Paul Bettany as a gay man forced to confront the Southern family to whom he’s stayed closeted — though they’ve managed to communicate tacit disapproval of his being “different” anyhow. Well-cast and gracefully handled,...
- 1/26/2020
- by Dennis Harvey
- Variety Film + TV
New Castle season 6,episode 17 intense spoiler promo clip hit the net. Last night, ABC released the new promo/spoiler clip (below) for their upcoming "Castle" episode 17 of season 6, and it appears to be extremely intense and interesting as Beckett's life will totally be on the line when she has to impersonate a contract killer, and more! The episode is titled, "In the Belly of the Beast." In the new episode 17, Beckett is going to end up, getting recruited to help out on a Narcotics investigation. However the routine mission will become very deadly when an undercover operation goes bad. To survive, Beckett will have to engage in a battle of wits against some of the most dangerous men in the New York underworld, including a powerful enemy from her past. Guest stars are going to include: Carlos Gomez as Captain Fowler, Kenny Johnson as Harden, Britt Rentschler as Elena Markov,...
- 2/25/2014
- by Andre
- OnTheFlix
New Castle season 6,episode 17 official spoilers,plotline revealed by ABC. Recently,ABC released the new,official,synopsis/spoilers for their upcoming "Castle" episode 17 of season 6. The episode is titled, "In the Belly of the Beast," and it sounds like things will get extremely intense and interesting as Beckett's life gets put in major danger while undercover, and more! In the new,17th episode press release: an undercover mission is going to go bad, putting Beckett's life in danger. Press release number 2: Beckett is going to get recruited to assist on a Narcotics investigation, but a routine mission will turn deadly when an undercover operation goes bad. To survive, Beckett is going to have to engage in a battle of wits against some of the most dangerous men in the New York underworld, including a powerful enemy from her past. Guest stars will include: Carlos Gomez as Captain Fowler, Kenny Johnson as Harden,...
- 2/24/2014
- by Andre
- OnTheFlix
Limbus Trailer. Brandon Nicholas‘ Limbus (2011) teaser trailer stars Brittney Rentschler, Alex Klein, Dan McNamara, Brian Confer, and Dani Lennon. Limbus‘ plot synopsis: “a surreal thriller set in the afterlife. It’s the story of four cult members after a mass suicide. Stuck in purgatory, they must search for the secrets beyond their existence. They travel through [...]
Continue reading: Limbus (2011) Teaser Trailer: Brandon Nicholas, Brittney Rentschler...
Continue reading: Limbus (2011) Teaser Trailer: Brandon Nicholas, Brittney Rentschler...
- 3/15/2012
- by R.W.
- Film-Book
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