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Here's a look at the new movies I saw this week.

The Hustle
Starring: Rebel Wilson, Anne Hathaway, and Alex Sharp
Synopsis: Summer is a time where we get comedies aplenty, and that trend continued in the second weekend in May with "The Hustle." This one is a re-make, of sorts, of "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels," itself a re-make, this time with the gender flipped to two female con-artists. Penny (Wilson) is a small-time grifter who makes her way from the United States to France, where she crosses paths with Josephine (Hathaway), who uses much more polished methods to ply the same trade. At first Josephine agrees to take Penny on as a protege, but soon their styles and personalities clash. And instead, they set their sites on a bet, trying to extract $500,000 from a new mark Thomas (Sharp). But it doesn't all go according to plan. This is a brisk 94-minutes, and makes decent use of a talented cast of performers. Both Wilson and Hathaway have a knack with comedy, and aside from some accents that don't flow smoothly, both seem at home in these roles. This is a pretty basic plot premise, and not much time is spent building these characters and worlds. There's some fun cameos from people like Timothy Simons, Rob Delaney and Dean Norris. This isn't a deep movie, but it's entertaining. It isn't a must-see in theaters, but I suspect it will have a longer shelf life on cable. For those looking for a breezy afternoon at the movies, you could do worse than "The Hustle."
Rating: PG-13 on appeal for crude sexual content and language.
Verdict: Two stars out of four.

Pokemon Detective Pikachu
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Justice Smith, Kathryn Newton, Bill Nighy, Ken Watanabe, and Chris Geere
Synopsis: Summer is a time of big blockbusters, comedies for adults and then fun movies for the younger set, many of whom have more carefree days with school out for summer. "Pokemon Detective Pikachu" is probably meant to be in that category, so I'll preface this by saying I don't think I was the target demographic for the film. I don't know anything about Pokemon, and I realized watching the film some of the jokes and references were lost on me. I went on a Friday afternoon, and was the only adult there without a kid, so that kind of told me I wasn't in the right place. That being said, it's been a great year for animated films, many of which have resonated with me. This didn't. I like Reynolds, and his humor. And I take it that the organizers were hoping to tap into that with his voice work here. And at times it's amusing. I like Smith and Newton, too, and they were amusing at times. Nighy, Watanabe and Geere all did fine in supporting roles. But there isn't a lot of character to sink into here, and I thought the film was mostly dull. I looked at my watch a fair bit, and even though it's a brisk 104 minutes, it felt longer than "Avengers: Endgame." Again, this will likely be more fun for Pokemon fans, and younger audiences, but this was a mild disappointment for me. I'd hoped for something at least fun, but I didn't get that from "Detective Pikachu," despite the presence of Reynolds.
Rating: PG for action/peril, some rude and suggestive humor, and thematic elements.
Verdict: One star out of four.

Upcoming Releases:
Friday, May 17: "John Wick Chapter 3," "The Sun is Also A Star," "A Dog's Journey"
Friday, May 24: "Aladdin," "Brightburn," "Booksmart"
Friday, May 31: "Godzilla: King of the Monsters," "Rocketman," "Ma"