From director David Yates of various Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts films comes Pain Hustlers. The story follows down on her luck mom Liza Drake (Emily Blunt) who is dreaming of a better life for herself and her daughter Phoebe (Chloe Coleman). Thanks to a chance encounter with one Pete Brenner (Chris Evans), she lands a job at the failing pharmaceutical company where he works. As drastic changes begin to occur, she can’t help but wonder if it’s been for better or for worse.

I was looking forward to this one. A film helmed by two of the biggest stars of today? Sign me right up! Unfortunately that’s about all it had going for it. So where did it all go wrong?

First and foremost, this is not the first time we’ve seen the subject tackled. This year alone we’ve had various takes on similar drug crises. This take unfortunately doesn’t add much to what we already know. There’s nothing wrong with that per se, but it doesn’t shed the light on anything new and therefore doesn’t stand out from the crowd.

The performances here are enjoyable enough. Blunt is believable as the scrappy mom who will do whatever she can to provide for her daughter. I wanted to root for her even when she continued to make questionable choices, though she certainly made it hard. Evans, on the other hand, has been playing similar variations of the same character for a while now and it’s beginning to feel tired. The two did have a good chemistry though that made their scenes work. The supporting cast in Catherine O’Hara as Liza’s mother, Andy Garcia as Dr. Neel and Brian D’Arcy James as Dr. Lydell were fine enough.

I truly believe if Pain Hustlers came out at a different point in time, it would have had more of an impact. The story is an important one, but it’s something we’ve seen many times before which didn’t help. I wanted so badly to like it, but my expectations simply weren’t met. I hate to say that it felt like a slog to get through, but I’d be lying if I didn’t.

Rating: ♥️♥️.5