Chris Evans And Emily Blunt Get Rich Pushing Drugs In Netflix's Pain Hustlers Trailer
We're not in Kansas anymore, folks — or, to put it more accurately, Chris Evans is no longer in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Ever since sending Steve Rogers off to retirement in "Avengers: Endgame," the A-list actor hasn't exactly shied away from shedding his image as the biggest boy-scout superhero this side of Superman. He's played loathsome murderers, like Ransom Drysdale in "Knives Out." He's gone full sociopathic villain as the mercenary Lloyd Hansen in the Russo brothers' "The Gray Man." And now, he's gearing up to portray yet another conniving and morally compromised figure in "Pain Hustlers," which appears intent on pushing the boundary of how far audiences will tolerate Evans as a thoroughly unlikable and money-grubbing creep.
The crime drama originally debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival this past September to somewhat less-than-sterling reviews (you can check out what /Film's Rafael Motamayor had to say about it here), though that's not stopping Netflix from continuing to throw their marketing muscle behind it. Clearly taking a page or two out of the "The Wolf of Wall Street" and "The Big Short" playbook, "Pain Hustlers" tells the story of how a high school dropout and the head of a failing pharmaceutical company team up to take advantage of the opioid crisis and make ungodly amounts of money off of it. It's a classic rags-to-riches tale, though based on a true story where even the most unlikely individuals imaginable found themselves swept up in a much broader criminal conspiracy than they could've ever imagined.
With the film set to release in just a few weeks, Netflix has released a new trailer for the movie that you can watch below.
Watch the Pain Hustlers trailer
If you came away from this footage thinking that you've seen this kind of drama told before and to better results, well, I can't say you're wrong. On one level, "Pain Hustlers" represents exactly the kind of mid-budget, adult-focused movie that many cinephiles have been begging studios to make more of these days. But, on the other hand, it doesn't help that a movie like this feels about a decade or so too late to really light a fire under audiences. But who knows! Maybe Netflix's algorithm will defy the odds and turn this into the streamer's next big sleeper hit.
"Pain Hustlers" comes from journeyman director David Yates ("Harry Potter," "Fantastic Beasts") and writer Wells Tower, based on the nonfiction book of the same name by author Evan Hughes published in 2022. The drug-focused shenanigans center on a Central Florida pharmaceutical start-up with sky-high ambitions of screwing over as many people as possible in the name of profits. Along with Chris Evans as Pete Brenner and Emily Blunt as Liza Drake, the film stars Andy Garcia, Catherine O'Hara, Jay Duplass, Brian d'Arcy James, and Chloe Coleman.
"Pain Hustlers" comes to select theaters October 20, 2023, before debuting on Netflix October 27, 2023.
Liza Drake (Emily 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 (Chris 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 (Andy 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.