Hustlers

Anyone who doubts pole dancing is an art form hasn’t seen the first 10 minutes of Hustlers, during which 50-year-old Jennifer Lopez performs a dazzling array of gravity-defying gyrations in a rhinestone G-string and a pair of clear platform stilettos.

However, this sassy crime drama is not simply intended as eye candy for surreptitious perverts. It showcases, with moderate success, the brains and heart behind the parade of flesh that defines the exotic dance trade.

Plus, it answers a question that was on everyone’s mind following the 2008 economic downturn: What will happen to the strippers?

The story is told primarily from the perspective of Destiny (Constance Wu), a young dancer who comes under the tutelage of co-worker Ramona (Jennifer Lopez). Then reality hits in the form of economic collapse, which practically leaves them both as single mothers on the street.

Out of desperation, Ramona hatches a plan to capitalize on their most marketable skills. She teams with Destiny and fellow strippers Annabelle (Lili Reinhart) and Mercedes (Kiki Palmer) to seduce the rich Wall Street financiers on their client list, lure them into a drug-induced stupor, and then steal their credit cards as a method of revenge for their predicament.

The film benefits considerably from the infectious charisma and camaraderie among its stars — bonus points for multicultural diversity — both during good times and bad. Lopez, in particular, finds the ideal balance between strength and vulnerability in her portrayal.

They help to elevate an uneven screenplay by director Lorene Scafaria (The Meddler), which is inspired by a true story of dancers at the New York men’s club Scores. It works so hard to subvert stereotypes and portray its women as empowered heroines that it almost completely glosses over the legal and ethical consequences of their Robin Hood-style vigilantism.

Scafaria does a more reasonable job navigating the gender politics of the setting, and portraying working-class struggles of the period through characters living on the margins of respectability. It’s a plea for socioeconomic equality from an unlikely source. However, more subtlety to supplement the style and attitude would have provided more resonance.

Still, Hustlers conveys a crowd-pleasing flair that makes it easier to overlook its superficial flaws and moral ambiguity. Plus, you can leave your currency straps at home.

Rated R, 109 minutes.