Pain Hustlers (2023)

Yet another look at the American opioid crisis, this one from the point of view of a nobody who became a someone inside big pharma. Based on the Evan Hughes book The Hard Sell, the film introduces us to Liza (Emily Blunt), a hard-working single mom who recently got kicked out of her sister’s place and had to move with into a motel with her sick daughter Phoebe (Chloe Coleman). While at her night job as an exotic dancer at a strip club, Liza meets Pete (Chris Evans) and drunkely offers her a job at the pharmaceutical startup he works at founded by Andy Garcia’s Jack Neel. Not only doe she take him up on the offer but she turns out to be really good at it, and is able to rise to the top of a very competitive market and take the company with her. The only problem is the drug she’s pushing is the dangerous painkiller fentanyl, so she ultimately ends ups at the center of a federal scandal. If you saw the word “strip club” earlier and got excited about seeing a bevy of babes working the pole, you’re in luck. Though Emily’s too shy to remove her sexy bra and panties on stage, fellow dancer Chinet Scott at least lets us see her pasties underneath her see-through top. That’ll ease the pain after a hard day!