The Hustle: Amusing, But Inessential

The Hustle, MGM's gender-swapped spin on Dirty Rotten Scoundrels replacing Michael Caine and Steve Martin with Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson, is the worst thing a modern comedy can be: inessential. It's neither hilarious or interesting enough to warrant enthusiastic recommendation nor terrible enough to inspire "has to be seen to be believed" musings or outrage. Instead, it's a mildly amusing, highly predictable comedy released at a time when such films struggle to sell tickets since their target audience increasingly prefers to simply stay home and stream.

For example, if you've yet to catch Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini in ...