The film is told through the eyes of Destiny [Constance Wu]. We see her interviewed by a journalist [ Julia Stiles] and the story switches between the present day, and her early days in the bustling Moves club where she is doe-eyed, wobbling on heels and having to smile through customers joking “Hey, Lucy Liu” to her. Until she’s taken under the wing – and literally enveloped into her fur coat – of Ramona [Jennifer Lopez] who teaches her everything she knows.

When the financial crash hits and the club is left empty, Ramona enlists Destiny into a fishing scheme, where they secretly drug men with ketamine and cocaine – there’s a shrewd domestic scene where Destiny and Ramona cook up their toxic concoctions – then get them to hand over their credit cards, and max them out. The theory is: the men won’t complain, because they’re too embarrassed to report the crime. Or wouldn’t even notice the hit to their bank account.

The tables are turned. The men doing the exploiting become the ones that are exploited “The game is rigged, and it doesn’t reward people who play by the rules,” says Ramona. But as the hustle ultimately unravels so too does Ramona and Destiny’s friendship, the love story at the centre of this film.

Hustlers film review: Watch the five star film that should win J.Lo her first Oscar