This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movie being covered here wouldn’t exist.
Apparently 2023 is the year of biopics. With movies like Air, Blackberry, Big George Foreman and many more; Pain Hustlers is just another true story about a multi-million-dollar company. Biopics aren’t usually my forte, so I wasn’t too interested in watching this one. I also had no idea about the story and individuals that this film was based on. I did do some research prior to viewing but not too much where it would spoil the movie.
Pain Hustlers is a Netflix original drama directed by David Yates and stars Chris Evans, Emily Blunt, and Andy Garcia as the leads. The movie is the recreation of the book The Hard Sell: Crime and Punishment at an Opioid Setup written by Evan Hughes. Both the book and the story tell the tale of John Kapoor and his pharmaceutical company. In the movie, they use all different names for the individuals, company and the drug that they created. The basic premise is on the creation of a new drug was to help battle the pain that patients with cancer had.
Lonafen, the fictional drug that represents Kapoor’s actual drug Subsys, was a fentanyl-based spray that helped cover the pain that people were experiencing. Liza Drake (Emily Blunt) is a single mom who has trouble with finding a job and has family issues. She meets Pete Brenner (Chris Evans) where he introduces her to his company where they create a pain relief drug. Having no prior experience in the medical or business field, she is hired as a saleswoman trying to get a doctor to prescribe this medication.
After her first success, she quickly moves up the ranks of the company making thousands, more money than she has ever seen in her life. But all glitters is not gold and she soon realizes what the company is actually trying to do.
The movie really felt like it was just a re-worked The Wolf of Wall Street. There were so many subtle calls to it, it seemed like the director was wishing it would turn out to be like it. I wasn’t a fan. I don’t like it when movies try to copy an idea of a better received movie. They could have definitely told the story in a different and original way.
Speaking of storytelling, I think this is one thing the film did well. It didn’t seem like it was all over the place and I could follow it pretty well. Where the movie lacked was in its acting. Chris Evans is not having a good year starting out with Ghosted and now Pain Hustlers.
Emily Blunt, however, was promising. She kicked butt in Oppenheimer, and she did pretty well in this film. Not an Award worthy performance, but definitely a standout in the movie. I felt more empathy for her character and any other character in the movie combined.
Final Thoughts
Pain Hustlers wasn’t a jaw dropping experience. I didn’t feel attached to anyone despite the effort they went through to have them try and have the audience feel bad for them. There was just no setup and character build up. Maybe a little with Emily Blunt’s character but not enough to bump this movie up. If you are looking for a quick biopic with a few funny sequences, or just obsessed with Chris Evans, then you’d probably like this movie. For me? I probably won’t watch this film again anytime soon.
