‘Hustlers’ Banned by Malaysia
Malaysia has deemed Lorene Scafaria’s “Hustlers” too vulgar for audiences. The country’s censorship board said no way to the film’s apparent parade of nudity and eroticism. The film’s international distributor confirmed the ban on social media today. See the post below.
“Hustlers” last weekend took the second spot at the top-10 box office, beneath “It Chapter Two,” and is currently riding high on rave reviews — as well as Oscar buzz for star Jennifer Lopez, who plays a streetwise stripper who takes ingénue Constance Wu under her wing (and into her fur coat).
The film’s nudity and sex are relatively light, but apparently went too far for Malaysian censors, who have a long history of banning films. “Alien: Covenant,” “Black Swan,” “Bad Moms,” “How to Be Single,” “Fifty Shades of Grey,” and, weirdly, “Beauty and the Beast” (allegedly due to homosexual references, but the film was later released without cuts) were all given the ax by Malaysia. Darren Aronofsky’s “mother!” was also banned — which, yeah, we know why — but was later released.
Earlier this year, Malaysia censored gay sex scenes in “Rocketman.” The country deemed scenes from “Hustlers” unsuitable for public screening.
“‘Hustlers’ is funny, empowering, sexy, emotional, and a bit scary,” IndieWire deputy editor Kate Erbland wrote in her A- review, “with most of those superlatives coming care of a full-force performance from Jennifer Lopez genuinely deserving of awards consideration.”
