They Cloned Tyrone, May December, and the 13 best Netflix movies (plus the 10 worst) of 2023

Worst: Pain Hustlers

Netflix cornered the market on opioid stories in 2023. First we had Painkiller, the limited series and fictionalized story of the rise and fall of Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family, then came The Fall of the House of Usher, which featured a family dynasty who made billions from their pharmaceutical company and the creation of an addictive opioid-based painkiller, and then Pain Hustlers.

Pain Hustlers is a crime drama starring Chris Evans and Emily Blunt, directed by David Yates. Like the previous projects, it was also based on a book, this one by Evan Hughes. The story revolves around Liza Drake (Blunt) a single mother struggling to make ends meet who lands a job at a failing pharmaceutical company after a fortuitous meeting with a drug rep named Pete Brenner (Evans) in Central Florida.

As one might expect, Liza soon helps turn the company around and make it profitable, but then finds herself in the middle of a racketeering scheme and countless other criminal dealings. Pain Hustlers was just flatout not a good movie. Despite some hype built around it due to its talented cast, which also featured Catherine O’Hara, Andy Garcia, Jay Duplass, and more, the film felt poorly written, strangely paced, and miscast.

Written by Maddy Lennon