American Hustle

Welcome to another episode of Lights....Camera....Popcorn!

Today's review is American Hustle.

Directed by David O. Russell.

Written by Eric Singer & David O. Russell.

Review #240

MPAA Rating: Rated R for pervasive language, some sexual content and brief violence.

Run Time: 138 min

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Cast

Christian Bale...Irving Rosenfeld

Bradley Cooper...Richie DiMaso

Amy Adams...Sydney Prosser

Jeremy Renner...Mayor Carmine Polito

Jennifer Lawrence...Rosalyn Rosenfeld

Louis C.K....Stoddard Thorsen

Jack Huston...Pete Musane

Michael Peña...Paco Hernandez / Sheik Abdullah

Alessandro Nivola...Anthony Amado

Elisabeth Röhm...Dolly Polito

Robert De Niro...Victor Tellegio (uncredited)

If you didn't know already, David O. Russell is a pretty good film maker. His last two films, The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook got some major notoriety and catapulted him among the heavy Oscar contenders. Now the world awaited his latest entry and the buzz surrounding this film was pretty strong. The trailers were descriptive and not at the same time. The all star cast also boosted the films place among some of the other awards contenders.

The problem is American Hustle is sold as a great movie and its just a good one.

Plot

A con man, Irving Rosenfeld, along with his seductive British partner, Sydney Prosser, is forced to work for a wild FBI agent, Richie DiMaso. DiMaso pushes them into a world of Jersey powerbrokers and mafia. 

The biggest issue to target here is obviously the story. For a film that involves con games and twists and turns, I appreciated the lack of complexity. Films of this genre tend to rely on confusing people instead of weaving a proper story together between beats. American Hustle doesn't do that. For the most part the film is easy to follow while juggling the big time names it boasts.

It's here where I feel the drag and I hate to say it revolves one player.

It kills me to write this because I'm such a big fan but Jennifer Lawrence's character feels out of place and unnecessary. This has nothing to do with her performance. She was terrific as always. The fact that she won the Golden Globe was no surprise. For me, I just felt that her character was more a nuisance than a need. I totally understood her importance to Irivng and how she constantly anchors him but the film would have survived and maybe thrived if the anchor was cut loose from the ship.

I really hate badmouthing my new celebrity crush so I'll move on.

As expected, the rest of the cast was great. With a roster sporting Christian Bale, Amy Adams and Bradley Cooper, how can you go wrong right? The film doesn't go wrong with these names but in my opinion there was one performance that stood out among the rest. 

The picture might be funny and this scene from the trailer may seem comical but don't be fooled. Bradley Cooper was phenomenal in this film. His performance was the driving force that made everything else move. There was a quiet craziness to him that made you wonder if he was actually a good, passionate FBI agent or just a lunatic looking to make a name for himself with a prime time bust. Cooper toes the line between both sides and it made him and his performance more compelling.

Unfortunately there was something missing. I can't quite place exactly what it is but American Hustle doesn't feel or play like the film that was sold to me in the trailers. Now I'm not saying that I was bait and switched but the tone didn't feel as strong or as serious as I was expecting. At first glance, American Hustle looked like a gritty late 1970's drama/thriller. Those elements were definitely there but Russell injects moments of levity and at times straight up laughs that question the severity of the story. I never doubted what I was watching.

I just wondered why the tone shifted at all.

The bottom line is American Hustle is a really good movie with a legit all star cast. A tweak or two with the story and we could be putting this film in the place with Silver Lining's Playbook. Right now in my opinion it falls a notch below. That's not a bad thing by any stretch of the imagination but seeing the potential this film projected. It's a little disappointing that the overall product didn't meet the hype.

On the 4 star scale. American Hustle gets 3.5 stars with a "Go See It!" recommendation.

That's a wrap for today.

Until Next Episode...."I'll Save You A Seat!"

"D"