Capsule Review: Pain Hustlers (2023)

Moving away from the magical world of Fantastic Beasts spin-offs to the grounded reality of pharmaceutical scandal, David Yates looks as if he’s channelling Oliver Stone and Martin Scorsese in Pain Hustlers. Black-and-white mockumentary-style interviews, voiceover narrations, slow-motion… you name it, it was a visual galore meant to spice up this two-hour length of a dark comedy/crime drama hybrid. It sure reminds me of the Big Pharma version of The Wolf of Wall Street in some ways. But it’s all familiar stuff for a movie that deals with the opioid crisis in the U.S.

Inspired by Evan Hughes’ Pain Hustlers: Crime and Punishment at an Opioid Startup book, which was originally a New York Times Magazine article in 2018, the story follows single mother Liza Drake (Emily Blunt) struggling to make ends meet dancing at a strip club. She has a young, rebellious daughter Phoebe (Chloe Coleman), who was recently suspended from school following an arson incident. She and her daughter live in her sister’s garage with her mother Jackie (Catherine O’Hara).

One night, she meets Pete Brenner (Chris Evans) in a strip club. He is a sales rep from Zanna Therapeutics (a fictional version of Insys Therapeutics founded by Jack Kapoor in the early 2000s), who’s getting all drunk and chatty and even offers her a job. She hesitates at first but as desperation sinks in, she eventually shows up in his office, hoping the job is still available.

Well, she gets the job and meets the founder of Zanna, Jack Neel (Andy Garcia). She finds out the pharmaceutical company is currently struggling to promote Lonafen due to stiff competition. The medicine in question is a pain-relief product that contains fentanyl designed for cancer patients. Liza’s job requires her to close sales by convincing doctors in clinics to prescribe Lonafen from Zanna.

Despite her lack of experience in sales, she proves to be naturally talented and a quick learner after all. She helps to save the company with the help of Pete, using bribery and incentive techniques. Soon, money starts pouring in and she earns a big fat paycheque.

Yates follows the rise-and-fall narrative angle that offers nothing new here. We have seen this kind of story before, with the likes of Dopesick and Painkiller miniseries being the recent examples. The been-there, done-that approach is further hampered by Yates’ misguided direction in humanising Liza’s unethical sales tactics of promoting Lonafen to doctors. This is especially true in the later part of the film, where she suddenly grows a conscience following Jack’s pushy demands. I get that the film wants us to root for her character but the so-called emotional arc feels more manufactured than rightfully earned.

But somewhere between the shortcomings of this film, we have Emily Blunt radiates with her magnetic and engaging performance as Liza Drake. She pairs well with Chris Evans, who does a good job playing a fast-talking sales rep. Andy Garcia, in the meantime, made quite an impression as the eccentric founder, Jack Neel while Catherine O’Hara provides equally strong support as Liza’s mother, Jackie.

The first half is particularly the best and most entertaining part of the film, showcasing Yates’ confident direction in navigating Liza’s initial struggle to her unlikely success in driving the sales of Lonafen after working for Zanna. While the subsequent melodramatic excess and an underwhelming third act diluted the momentum of the story, the film remains reasonably watchable.

Pain Hustlers is currently streaming on Netflix.