Netflix has released another film to bolster its reputation for producing high quality, original films. After the well-received Fair Play, another drama with an excellent cast has dropped. Pain Hustlers takes a look at the murky world of big pharma, and dramatises some of the situations that led to the US opioid crisis.
David Yates, who is best known for his work on the Harry Potter and the Fantastic Beast series, directed the film. Pain Hustlers is his first movie in many years unrelated to that magical world.
Find out what Yates’ new film is about and who stars in it below.
Pain Hustlers release date
Davids Yates’ drama is available now on Netflix.
Pain Hustlers plot
The film tells the story of a single mother on the edge of a breakdown who decides to take a job offer from a pharmaceutical start-up. Pain Hustlers is based on Evan Hughes’ article published in the New York Times and his book titled The Hard Sell.
As the film’s description (via Netflix TUDUM) goes:
Liza Drake (Blunt) is a blue-collar single mom who has just lost her job and is at the end of her rope. A chance meeting with pharmaceutical sales rep Pete Brenner (Evans) puts her on an upwards trajectory economically but dubious path ethically as she becomes entangled in a dangerous racketeering scheme. Dealing with her increasingly unhinged boss (Garcia), the worsening medical condition of her daughter (Chloe Coleman), and a growing awareness of the devastation the company is causing forces Liza to examine her choices.
Netflix
Pain Hustlers is a study of the pharmaceutical industry – but also of greed and desperation. As rumoured, the film uses storytelling techniques in a way reminiscent of The Wolf of Wall Street, The Big Short and American Hustle.
As director David Yates said:
I was intrigued by the pharma world, particularly the low-rent end of it, the workaday reps and sales teams striving to make a living in a hugely competitive business of dealing with people’s pain.
Pain Hustlers cast
The film features:
- Emily Blunt – Liza Drake
- Chris Evans – Pete Brenner, a sales associate for a pharmaceutical start-up
- Andy García – Jack Neel, the head of the start-up
- Catherine O’Hara – Jackie Drake, Liza’s mother
- Jay Duplass – Brent Larkin
- Brian d’Arcy James – Dr. Nathan Lydell
- Chloe Coleman – Phoebe Drake, Liza’s daughter
- Aubrey Dollar – Andy
- Amit Shah – Eric Paley
- Willie Raysor – Matt
Pain Hustlers trailers
In the first teaser of David Yates’ film, money and madness rule:
“There’s nothing so inspiring as sheer desperation”, says Emily Blunt in the official trailer for Pain Hustlers:
