Liza dreams of a better life for herself and her daughter. She gets a job at a bankrupt pharmacy, and Liza’s guts catapult the company and her into the high life, putting her in the middle of a criminal conspiracy.
Pam says:
Looking for the 2023 version of “The Big Short?” You’ve found it with the Netflix film “Pain Hustlers” starring Emily Blunt and Chris Evans. Blunt portrays Liza Drake who we meet via an interview with Pete Brenner (Evans) as he describes her in less than favorable ways. The movie flashes back in time, and we watch the story unfold. Brenner becomes acquainted with Liza at her place of work…a strip club. No, she’s not the manager; she’s a gorgeously frustrated single mom trying to get out of her current situation as a dancer. Feeding Brenner plenty of liquid calories, he offers her a chance to work with/for him at a failing pharmaceutical company in sales…of course the detail of “failing” is left out.
Liza shows up at Brenner’s work where she talks her way into a job in sales, being promised fortunes for getting just one doctor to write a prescription for their drug. Of course, we know she’s going to save the company as the “based on a true story” follows a formula, but it’s the journey she travels as a mom and woman who will not give up on herself that is the entertaining aspect of this tragically true story.
The film changes the names of the company and the drug to a fictional one, Lonefen, a fentanyl-based drug or opioid-addictive chemical used for cancer pain relief. That “minor” detail is overlooked and unreported and this is where the film gets even crazier as Liza uses her people skills to sell, sell, sell. That is until she allows herself to see this world for what it really is.
Going from rags to riches, Liza must make an ethical decision as she witnesses other companies hawking the same wares go down and the first-hand effects of her skyrocketing sales skills. We also delve into Liza’s personal life with her teenage daughter who is too smart for her own good (Chloe Coleman as Phoebe), and her mother Jackie (Catherine O’Hara) with her own set of issues while juggling the eccentricities of the company’s president Dr. Neel (Andy Garcia).
This is a fast-paced and gripping story that allows you to see the opioid crisis from a different perspective. Horrifying details of greed within this industry is eye-opening, but screenwriters Wells Tower and Evan Hughes — Hughes also wrote the book — find a way to make this an exceptionally entertaining and occasionally sadly comic story thanks to characters like Larkin (Jay Duplass) and Dr. Lydell (Brian d’Arcy James).
“Pain Hustlers” is Liza’s story to tell and Blunt finds a way to bring her to life and connect us with her. We root for her to succeed and to eventually make the right decisions, but the cost is higher than expected. Blunt allows us to feel what she’s feeling, making this an empathetic story and questioning what we would do in the same situation. Evans naturally shines in this role as the no-nonsense salesman who sees the world for what it is. Together, they have a comfortable chemistry that makes the entire story work.
There’s never a dull moment in “Pain Hustlers” as we see first-hand how the pharmaceutical industry has created a devastating crisis from which we are all still reeling.
3 1/2 Stars
Chuck says:
While “Dopesick,” “Painkiller,” and numerous documentaries have examined the opioid crisis from the point of view of the victims, David Yates “Pain Hustlers” looks at this scourge from the other end of the spectrum, from the perspective of the pushers. Those would be the drug representatives who promoted their company’s miracle painkillers, giving incentives to doctors to prescribe it, and reaping huge profits as a result. Much like “The Big Short,” the film is set up as a pseudo-documentary, many of its characters participating in faux interviews for the camera in an effort to bring a degree of realism to the production. And while this approach is, regrettably, not used consistently throughout, the energy with which this story is told sweeps the viewer away, much like its main character was by her sudden success.
Liza Drake (Emily Blunt) has reached the end of her rope. Having lost her home and dealing with a daughter with epilepsy, she’s been forced to take the only job she can find, as a dancer at a strip club. She’s probably the least enthusiastic pole dancer in the history of such establishments, but her ship comes in the form of one of her patrons, Pete Brenner (Chris Evans), a salesman for a floundering pharmaceutical company. He offers her a job on impulse, she accepts, and their fates are changed.
Realizing opportunities like this don’t come along every day, Drake immerses herself in the company culture, learning all she can about their products and just how much money she can make if she proves successful. Their cornerstone product is Lonafen, a painkiller created by their prime investor, Dr. Neel (Andy Garcia), used for cancer patients. Drake is such a natural huckster, her efforts make the drug’s market share jump from zero to 86 percent in a few short months. She single-handedly rights this sinking ship and before you know it, the now thriving company is expanding, raking in millions of dollars a month.
Screenwriters Wells Tower and Evan Hughes do a marvelous job explaining how a company like INSYS, the crooked enterprise the film is based on, gets their product to market. The nexus of Drake’s riches is Dr. Lydell (Brian D’Arcy James), a divorced, middle-aged strip mall physician, the perfect sad sack that’s ripe for the picking. Given a percentage of every prescription he writes for Lonafen, he’s also wined and dined, given bogus “speaker’s fees,” taken on elaborate trips and enjoys other perks that fall into the gray area of legality.
Every sales rep has numerous Dr. Lydells, their greed and access to easy money the catalyst for the overprescribing of drugs. The avarice of all involved leads to Lonafen being given to patients who don’t need it. That the drug is highly addictive causes a dependency in some that leads to permanent damage and in some cases, death.
Yates adopts a breakneck tempo, an approach meant to replicate the dizzying pace of Drake’s life that ultimately gets away from her. Suddenly awash in money, she never pauses to consider the consequences of her actions or the collateral damage that’s resulting in her company’s predatory practices. Blunt is very good, convincing once Drake’s conscience is awakened when the result of her actions hit too close to home, her remorse genuine, if a bit too convenient.
Evans doesn’t get enough screentime, but makes an impression as Brenner, bullying all who gets in his way with a relish that’s disturbing. Meanwhile, Garcia is also underused but the comic relief he provides, as Neel’s mind starts to unravel once the money rolls in, adds to the sense that the world he and his employees finds themselves in is off kilter.
While Drake seems genuinely contrite, the film’s final message is a reminder that predatory monsters walk among us, viewing the rest of us as prey to be used to their own ends. The fact that people’s lives were ruined is seen as nothing but an unfortunate consequence on these reps path to success. The pursuit of the almighty dollar is their justification, a notion our capitalistic society is built upon. In the end, “Hustlers” shows it was just business as usual as far as Brenner and her colleagues were concerned.
3 1/2 Stars
