Hustlers

[A]ided by Jennifer Lopez' career-best performance as a duplicitous diva, its celebration of female force and friendship is likely to draw and delight fans - particularly if they've first fortified themselves with a few frozen margaritas.

Scafaria validates her heroines from the start by focusing on them as women whose internal struggles and friendships with each other are far more interesting than their obvious physical allure.

Blessed with one of the most memorable entrances in recent cinema history, Lopez slinks through Hustlers with a deceptive ease, as in control of the film as her character is of her situation.

"Hustlers" humanises the women at its center, giving them boyfriends, backstories and, most importantly, agency.

Lopez gives her most electrifying screen performance since "Out of Sight," slipping the movie into her nonexistent pocket from the moment she strides out onto a neon-lighted stage in a rhinestone bodysuit.

[The Meddler] was [director Lorene] Scafaria's last effort behind the camera, and while it's a more than worthy showcase for her abundant talent, Hustlers rockets past it with mesmerising exuberance.

A giddily entertaining homage to female power that illuminates bold ambition in its stars and director alike, Hustlers is the kind of era-defining film that Hollywood didn't know it needed.