Netflix pick of the month: HUSTLE

Actually it’s a TV series (although 20th is in the process of developing it as feature). It’s called HUSTLE, produced by the BBC. Tony Jordan created it and I wouldn’t want to get into a “Bar Wars” type duel with this guy.

AMC airs the series from time to time “over the pond” but you can get the DVD’s.

HUSTLE is about a group of con artists that pull elaborate stings. And by elaborate I mean ingenious, intricate, sometimes inspired. You’ll be saying, “How the hell do they come up with this stuff??”

Leading the cast is Robert Vaughn. (The Man from UNCLE now essentially plays Mr. Waverly.) Yes, he’s wooden as always. He never acts, he “poses”. But it works somehow.

Adrian Lester is the real revelation. He plays the mastermind leader, Mickey. And if you’ve never seen him before that’s because this is the first non-theater project he’s done. But you’ll see him again. Denzel Washington, watch out.

Marc Warren plays Danny. He’s the young, raw, talented newbie to the group – gifted but unpredictable. Ironically they picked a guy who looks like a young Illya Kuryakin (the Man From UNCLE’S partner who always got the shit beaten out of him while Vaughn’s character slept with the dictator’s wife).

There’s Robert Glenister as “Ash”, the technical whiz who can break into any safe, rewire any security device, and although they never showed it, understand the new Time-Warner Cable DVR remote.

Luscious Jamie Murray plays Stacie. She was the villainess in season two of DEXTER. It’s fun to watch a woman who is ten times smarter than the men she targets to con.

After the first three seasons characters drop out and are replaced. I haven’t seen those episodes so I can’t say whether they suffer. Season four has to because Adrian Lester isn’t in it. He returned for season five however. I don’t understand why actors drop out of English series. They only make six or eight at a time.

The production values are sumptuous. The series is super stylish. Michael Mann would be proud.

Examples of some of the cons: they have to break into jail, they have to create an entire Bollywood production, they have to create a forged Mondrian so good that it fools experts, they steal the Crown Jewels, and in my favorite so far – Danny and Mickey stage a competition. They’re both dumped out in the center of London at noon completely naked. They have eight hours to return to the home base and whoever grifted the most money wins. In short order they’re wearing tailored suits, cruising around in chauffeured limousines, raking in the dough.

The gang doesn’t always succeed, they often have to improvise, personality conflicts and past feelings also get in the way. But it’s always fun, always a good ride. HUSTLE, where the cons are pros.