A bitter PILL

What to expect from a true-life-inspired 'pharma drama' starring film favourites Chris Evans and Emily Blunt

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PAIN HUSTLERS
NEW FROM FRIDAY 27 OCTOBER,
NETFLIX DRAMA

America’s opioid crisis is a big topic for Hollywood, with viewers captivated by stories of greedy pharmaceutical companies profiting from people’s suffering in TV series such as Michael Keaton’s Dopesick and Matthew Broderick’s Painkiller.

This week, Netflix brings another dose of ‘pharma drama’ in the much-anticipated new movie Pain Hustlers, starring Emily Blunt (Mary Poppins Returns, Oppenheimer) as an ambitious pharmaceuticals sales executive who’s desperate to make money.

The plot is inspired by a 2018 New York Times Magazine article and subsequent book, The Hard Sell (2022), by journalist Evan Hughes, which exposed how a small opioid company peddled a pain-relief spray for cancer patients that contained the highly addictive ingredient fentanyl. Names have been changed and characters have been invented for the film, but the essence of how sales representatives bribed doctors to write prescriptions remains at its core.

SHARED VISION

Emily plays high-school dropout and single mum Liza Drake, who lands a job at Zanna, a floundering (fictional) pharmaceutical start- up nestled in a jaded shopping mall in Central Florida.

Shady salesman Pete Brenner (Captain America star Chris Evans) sweet-talks her into it, promising she’ll make a quick buck by convincing doctors to prescribe fentanyl-based miracle drug Lonafen, which is designed to help cancer patients.

But as Liza reaps the rewards and finally starts living the high life, she finds herself at the centre of a dangerous racketeering scheme. How far will she go to reach her targets?