The China Hustle

R

Released Mar 30, 2018

1h 24m

Documentary

TRAILER

for The China Hustle: Trailer 1

List

79%

34 Reviews

Tomatometer

76%

100+ Ratings

Audience Score

Investors seeking new alternatives for high returns find a gold mine in China -- until the discovery of a massive web of fraud calls everything else into question.

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Critics Consensus

The China Hustle may not have enough anger to wholly satisfy, but Jed Rothstein's slick documentary is an informative primer on financial fraud on a geopolitical scale.

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Richard Whittaker

Austin Chronicle

Think the trade deficit is a source of economic concern? The China Hustle makes the imminent trade war look like a fight over small change.

Rated: 3.5/5

Apr 19, 2018

Full Review

Tina Hassannia

RogerEbert.com

The frank, level-headed tone of the documentary does not transform into the righteous anger that such financial corruption calls for.

Rated: 2.5/4

Mar 30, 2018

Full Review

Simon Houpt

Globe and Mail

In horror movies, monsters often lose their power to terrify once they come fully into the frame. But as Rothstein reveals the full shape and size of an ogre that has slipped into our financial markets, just try to calm your growing dread.

Rated: 2.5/4

Mar 30, 2018

Full Review

Michael J. Casey

Michael J. Cinema

Another by-the-numbers doc about an ongoing financial crisis rooted in manipulation and apathy.

Rated: 3/5

Apr 6, 2021

Full Review

Richard Crouse

Richard Crouse

It isn't so much a lesson in economics as it is a film about due diligence and common sense.

Rated: 4/5

Mar 4, 2021

Full Review

David-Elijah Nahmod

Bay Area Reporter

This makes for a fine companion piece to whatever our leader is up to with his raising of tariffs and jawboning about China's longstanding practice of stealing intellectual property from US companies attempting to gain access to China's domestic market.

Jun 2, 2020

Full Review

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Gareth v

A doco that plays out like a crime/heist movie. Does shine a light on the crimes of big businesses and how they get away with it.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

06/22/23

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Audience Member

This documentary purports to expose new financial corruption following the 2008 crisis and what is (or is not) being done about it. It achieves this to some extent, but it makes the error of trying to get us to sympathize with Wall Street investors, specifically short sellers. We are supposed to believe that these short sellers, who profit off of the very schemes that they and the film apparently condemn, are the true crusaders of justice in this story. (There is some great footage of them going to Washington DC and sitting impotently and squirming during a Congressional hearing.) These self-proclaimed "activist investors" say they fight the good fight by taking down fake Chinese companies. They do this by hiring Chinese nationals to be their private investigators and have them uncover this fraud in China at great personal risk. Essentially, wealthy white US men send poor Chinese men to risk their lives in uncovering fraud in Chinese companies. These US men then turn around and make huge profits when they short the stocks of these Chinese companies. The second half of the film doubles down on its Sinophobia and features several interviews about how China is the source of all this corruption and fraud. Never mind that early on in the film, we learn that these schemes are really the work of low-level US investment banks with the cooperation of the big banks and the US government. This film would rather blame China than look at how these schemes mirror the day-to-day flow of capital in just about every business and bank trading on the stock market. We don't see how every new hyped-up tech startup with billions in backing is really just a front for money laundering. We don't see how the 'China hustle' scheme of inflating the value of companies to defraud the public connects to the wider problems of the market. We don't see how this 'hustle' is not some aberration of free trade capitalism but rather a necessary trait of it. In other words, this is really just business as usual.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

02/03/23

Full Review

carlota n

What did you think of the movie? Very biased piece, with unsatisfactory evidence. Very short sighted when it comes to geopolitical affairs, and even more when it comes to depicting the laws and complexities of a foreign country like China. It starts with a promising "there are no good guys in this story" only to portrait clear villains and heores to the service of the main subject of the piece. Though it explains some financial terms in a very efficient way.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

quinton w

The anti-China overtone was trying a little too hard, since the major problem can be seen in the American lack of regulation and due diligence process. If you can't go to China to verify, why would you be ok to list them for trade and expose your people to the undue risk?

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

When will we ever learn?

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/25/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Sets out with a clear narrative and an interesting premise. Sadly then loses direction in the second half until it devolves into rapid cuts and one line slogans, not dissimilar to an obnoxious YouTube creation. If you want to kill time/ need some background noise to your afternoon nap then I'd recommend it.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/07/23

Full Review

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The China Hustle: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

Investors seeking new alternatives for high returns find a gold mine in China -- until the discovery of a massive web of fraud calls everything else into question.

Director: Jed Rothstein
Producer: Mark Cuban, Todd Wagner, Ben Cosgrove, Jeff Cuban, Stacey Offman, Alex Gibney, Frank Marshall, Richard Perello
Screenwriter: Jed Rothstein
Distributor: Magnolia Pictures
Production Co: Jigsaw Productions, S.J. Gibson Films, Kennedy/Marshall
Rating: R (Some Language)
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 30, 2018, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 30, 2018
Box Office (Gross USA): $46.5K
Runtime: 1h 24m

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