Pain Hustlers Ending Explained: Why did Liza, Pete, and Jack end up in prison?
Directed by David Yates, this Emily Blunt and Chris Evans starrer tells the story of Zanna Pharmaceutical's rise, its fall, and the permanent damage caused by the corruption of 'Big Pharma.' The film dives into the lives of Zanna's representatives and the lengths they went to sell their drugs.
The movie is reportedly based on actual events, mirroring the infamous opioid crisis in the USA. The ending left many confused, wondering if it was a happy ending for Liza or not. Here's the breakdown.
Why did Liza, Pete, and Jack end up in prison?
Liza Drake [Emily Blunt] and many other Zanna's representatives start bribing the "prescribers" aka doctors, to recommend Lonafen, a drug they claimed works faster and better than their standard medication for pain.
The twist is, though, that at first, it was only prescribed for cancer patients who were going through severe pain from the disease. But because of the bribes, doctors started pushing the drug to people who would complain of something as small as a headache. Which inevitably starts resulting in people getting addicted to Lonafen and dying because of it as well.
Liza decided to become a whistleblower for the Florida District Attorney when she reported on her company's crimes, including Dr. Jack Nell [Andy Garcia], the founder of Zanna, and Pete Brenner [Chris Evans]. Dr. Neel, though, had made sure not to leave a paper trail of his crimes, but fortunately, Liza found the proof of his involvement in the scandal through email exchanges between Jack and her own mother, Jackie [Catherine O'Hara], that explicitly mention bribing doctors to prescribe his drug.
AdvertisementIn the trial, Pete is sentenced to 36 months in Jail, while Jack is granted a sentence of 66 months. The district attorney tries to recommend the court pardon Liza for being an essential part of their investigations, but since she had a clear hand in Zanna's corruption, she's sentenced to spend 15 months behind bars.
Liza Drake's life after prison
After Liza's out of prison, she's shown to be helping her mother, Jackie, sell her skincare products alongside many ex-Zanna representatives. Now, this can be taken as a symbol of a drug addict rebuilding their life after getting sober. This mirrors the recovery period of an addict trying to fight their addiction. Just in this case, Liza's addiction was money, success, and greed.
Is Pain Hustlers based on real events?
While not all aspects of Pain Hustlers are true, the story overall is based on the real-life story of Insys Therapeutics. The movie is inspired by 'The Hard Sell: Crime and Punishment at an Opioid Startup' written by Evan Hughes.
At the end of the film, the film shows actual news footage of Insys's founder, John Kapoor [who inspired the character Dr. Jack Neel in the film], getting sentenced to jail. Lonafen is the reel version of a real drug peddled by Kapoor called Subsys.
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