The Hustle (2008)

I love this movie so much

Memorable, crazy movie

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

Man I'm glad I saw this for free on the internet! Because I would have been upset to pay to see it. IT wasn't that bad but it wasn't good either.Charlie Murphy is top-billed but he sorely lacks the charisma his famous brother has in abundance. In one scene He even wore the "Pimp Outfit" he wore on the Dave Chappelle Show to get a laugh, all he got from me was a chuckle.His co-star, Al Shearer "shined" better and since Al is 6'4" in height he towered over Charlie. The two stars played well together as a goofy team of hustlers trying to get some money together.David Alan Grier was well cast as a TV preacher named Rev. Paid. All his preaching was about the money. He wasn't really funny at all, but David did a good job portraying the Rev. His scenes were confided to just the TV as commercials per say.The lovely Tamala Jones, was perfect as the lady Al falls for. She played her part as well as she could.Tommy Lister was completely wasted in his small cameo. He plays a so-called dog thief that makes no sense whatsoever to the storyline. The boys Al & Charlie confront him in the barbershop but it's not at all funny. The only cool thing is seeing Lister & Murphy together in a scene. Lister does his best 'Deebo' imitation and even does his trademark slap on himself.Another disappointing cameo was from the great John Witherspoon ! He is billed in the opening credits like he is co-starring, but he literally has a almost no line cameo that isn't even funny!And he doesn't even appear till the film is almost over!? At the end of the film they show outtakes of bloopers and deleted scenes and one of the deleted scenes is of Witherspoon talking with Al & Charlie about Lister in the barbershop. It was a little funny because at least Witherspoon gets a chance to talk and be his funny self for a bit and I can't believe they did not include it! Wow .Another pointless & wasted cameo was from David 'Bud' Faustino. He really had nothing to do in this film but be a background prop. Not funny at all. And what a shame because we all know how funny he was in "Married With Children".And another of the pointless and wasted cameos was from Brigitte Nielsen. She plays a 'Rich Lady' who supposedly hired Al & Charlie to exterminate her house of roaches. She wasn't funny at all. If Flavor Flav would have come out maybe that would have been funny. But her alone , no way.And the last of the pointless cameos were from the great character actor Aki Aleong and Freez Luv. Their cameos were pointless and not funny at all. There were for the most part just very stereo typical & somewhat racist.Now to some cool cameos: The 1st was the great Tony Cox. He was the only one who made me laugh with his 'confrontation' with Charlie. Their back and forth verbal insults was the highlight for me. To bad he wasn't included more in the film. The actress Luenell as the Metermaid also had a nice cameo also dealing with Charlie. To bad they did not use her more.Kim Whitley was nice as a love interest of some sorts for Charlie. Ellia English was right on target as Al's Momma. Michael J. Pagan as Whitley's son did a OK job. I thought at 1st he was a young Donald Faison! Darrin Dewitt Henson did a good job being the 'bad-guy'to the boys. Bai Ling did a good job looking sexy & being menacing at the same time in her short role. Clent Bowers had a nice bit as the real preacher the boys replaced while he was in the hospital. and last but not least, Jeris Poindexter had a nice little role as the homeless Benny who the boys help in the church.All in all, not a bad movie, but not that great either. And with such a tremendous and talented cast you would have expected better. But it has to be the writers and the director because these wonderful actors have been way funnier in other roles and films. But it's worth at least one look just because of the cast involved. I'm thinking the director just wanted the names of all these people in his film but just did not know how to use them to good use . What a shame and waste.

Junior Walker and Freddy are exterminators. Freddy still lives with his mother, who is raising Freddy's daughter and wishes her son would grow up. As a result of a wild chase, Freddy accidentally caused the Chinese mob to lose $10,000, and the mob want their money back in a week--or else! The guys get a painful demonstration of what could happen.One of the company's clients is the predominantly African-American Bethel Baptist Church, whose pastor is old and fat, and his second-in-command is eager to replace him. The pastor mistakes the exterminators for replacement pastors that he had asked for, and they don't deny that's who they are. The pastor ends up in the hospital in a coma, so Freddy and Junior take over as pastors, to the dismay of Brother Efrom, who has them checked out.Freddy, who admires the work of greedy and charismatic TV preacher Rev. Isaac Montgomery Paid, sees a perfect way to make money. Easter is a week away, and Freddy sets a goal for the struggling congregation. Only a few people show up the first Sunday, but people like Freddy a lot, and while they don't give at first, Freddy is very persuasive and goes out into the community. Derrick, one of the few white people at this church (and maybe the only one) offers to put some life into the church's lame band.So will Freddy succeed? Not just in raising the money but in remaking the church.This movie has its good points. While Freddy's intentions are less than honorable, he does good work in the process. It is true that this movie does not have a lot of respect for Christian values. But most of the characters seem genuine in their faith, in the sense that they are holier than thou and their own sins aren't as but as other people's. That's about as genuine as you will usually find in Hollywood.David Alan Grier is the standout performer, and I do mean performer. The TV preacher only appears on TV screens.John Witherspoon, who is great as the President's Dad in "The First Family", plays a barber. I liked seeing him here.I have to wonder why, a week before Easter, no mention was made of Palm Sunday, or Maundy Thursday, or Good Friday.I saw a cleaned-up version but it is obvious this film is vile and filthy.Is it a movie with a faith message? Yes, in a sense it is.