They made a John Kapoor / Insys movie and race-swapped the villain :D At least it’s the great Cuban-Am Andy Garcia and not, like, Cumberbatch. “Pain Hustlers” (Blunt, Chris Evans, Amit Shah on Nflx).

I’ve long said desi-Am crooks and hustlers in tech / finance / pharma are a full employment act for their theater-kid cousins.

But Hollywood just lifts the story and race-bends the cast. A hard-working brown crook can’t even get his own movie anymore :D

They threw us a bone with Amit Shah as “Eric Paley,” but instead of founding the racket, he’s a blubbering rat on his knees.

Barefoot and backgrounded.

Brown dad or lawyer at sentencing.

A nod to the actual founder at the very end.

Emily Blunt is the heroine and audience bridge, because pretty white ladies sell tickets like they sell pills, similar racket. One Blunt = 2 hours of bliss.

I used to say that when Hollywood makes the Ramayana, it’ll be with a gormless white hero and Indian villains. Thought it was clever snark, but it’s just a straightforward description of their biz model.

Story it’s based on, delving into Insys paying off docs to prescribe unnecessary painkillers. [nytimes.com]

Trailer: