Netflix’s new addition to its opioid crisis and crime-based category is “Pain Hustlers“. Opioid addiction has been a favorite topic for Netflix lately. Netflix’s Painkiller, The Fall of the House of Usher, and now Pain Hustlers all are based on the opioid crisis which claimed millions of lives. Pain Hustlers starring Emily Blunt and Chris Evans has been compared to “The Wolf of the Wall Street” but with female characters at the center. Fans shared their opinion on X about the movie which has a similar tone to 2013’s hit crime film starring Leo di Caprio and Margot Robbie.
Fans are all praises for Blunt’s strong and leading character in the movie. But, Pain Hustlers failed to get strong reactions and praise from the critics. The movie has a 24 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 6.4 rating on IMDb even though it managed to get positive reactions from the audience, the critics are not impressed by Netflix’s newest addition.
The movie follows the story of Liza Drake, a single mother and a high school dropout who is struggling to support her daughter.
Liza’s life is completely changed when she meets Pete Brenner, who works as a sales manager in a pharmaceutical company called Zanna. Brenner hires Liza to be a sales Rep for Lonafen, throwing her in the middle of a criminal conspiracy.
Is Pain Hustlers a real-life story?
Yes, the majority of the plot is inspired by Evan Hughes’s 2018 article in New York Times magazine. Hughes later turned it into a book named “Pain Hustlers”. It is based on a real-life pharmaceutical company Insys.
is Liza Drake real?
No, Liza Drake’s character is not based on a real person. But, it is a composite character that takes inspiration from the other characters mentioned in the article.
Chris Evans’s character Pete Brenner is based on Alec Burlakoff, a sales manager at Insys. The company’s real name and its drug Subsys were renamed in the movie. However, David Yates tried to show the moral side of Liza’s character by giving her a daughter who suffers from a brain tumor. He said in his interview with Entertainment Weekly;
“I’ve always been fascinated by salespeople and what they do and the moral side of the pharma industry when they’re hustling to make money,”
Will There Be Netflix Pain Hustlers Sequel
No, there is no sequel for Pain Hustlers. The movie is based on a real-life story. All the members of Insys were sentenced and they did time for their crimes of paying doctors to prescribe the highly addictive drug to non-cancer patients. Also, the company was ordered to be settled for 225 million dollars but later went bankrupt. Thankfully, the company no longer exists.
The story of the movie wrapped up so there is no need for a sequel. There was a happy ending for Liza’s character, she did a shorter sentence as compared to the other employees of the company for her cooperation with law enforcement. She was also seen working on her mother’s idea of herbal and natural beauty products.
But, if you are still interested in the real-life case of the characters you can check out Evan Hughes’s book and the official article she wrote for New York Times Magazine.
Conclusion
Netflix has been obsessed with the topic of opioid addiction for six years. If you enjoyed the movie you can stream other Netflix several projects that focus on the same topic. Netflix is not the only one in the game, Hulu’s Dopesick starring Michael Keaton is a good pick if you want to see more about crime and drugs that kill millions every year around the globe.
