7 of 10
Personal Bias Alert: Not a fan of David O. Russell, Self-proclaimed
Jennifer Lawrence burnout
Two
bombastic, splashy films came out at the end of December 2013: “American Hustle” and “The Wolf of Wall
Street.” Entering the awards season race
so late can really hamper your chances of winning, and both films tried to
overcome that by marketing themselves as a brashly funny look at the corruption
that pervades the upper echelons of American culture. Of the two, “American Hustle” definitely made
the bigger splash.
Loosely
(very loosely) based on the Abscam
operation of the late 1970s to early 1980s, the film follows two con artists
who team up with the FBI to uncover politicians who are taking bribes. The two con artists, Irving Rosenfeld (Christian
Bale) and Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams), are being forced to help the FBI in order
to avoid jail time for a previous loan scam they were caught running. The duo have a contentious relationship with
their handler, FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper). Because this plot needs more complications,
Irving and Sydney are also lovers, which irritates Irving’s crazy wife Rosalyn
(Jennifer Lawrence). Oh, and Irving really
likes Mayor Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner), one of the main politicians they
are bringing down.
It’s a complicated plot, one of those twisty
heist/con movies where you need to pay very careful attention to figure out
what actually happens. On top of that,
director and co-writer David O. Russell decides to layer on interweaving
relationships, broad characters, period style cinematography, and then make the
whole thing move at a blistering pace.
It’s a frenetic style of filmmaking that often serves to undercut what
Russell is trying to achieve. There’s
simply too much going on; when one part starts to work another part jumps in
and destroys the momentum. I keep
comparing this film to “The Prestige.”
That’s another twisty film with intertwined relationships, but it gives
itself some room to breathe, leading to a more satisfying payoff.
The
movie plays best when its focused falls on the characters. As written, they are all more of a caricature
than a full character. They’re mildly
fleshed out through narration, but most of the heavy lifting is left to the
actors. The performances fall into two
camps: the grounded approach that Bale,
Adams, and Renner bring and the frenzied approach that Cooper and Lawrence
bring. In a film this broad, a grounded
character goes a long way towards selling the crazy that’s happening around
them. The scenes with Bale, Adams, and
Renner are the best in the film, and their performances are largely to
thank. Adams is the standout as a
slippery character you can never quite figure out, and Renner is the big
surprise. While he is normally an
adequate actor, he really shines here. Cooper
and especially Lawrence are chewing the scenery, giving their scenes a
cartoonish sheen that undercuts the urgency of the plot. Bale gets a thankless role as the sane one
of the bunch, and you don’t realize how good he is until he gets paired up with
Lawrence.
The
period setting is played up here, and you can tell the set and costume
designers had a ball doing this film. If
anyone is missing velvet suits, here’s your chance to see a ton of them. The hair is spot-on too. Bale’s comb-over made for a funny running
gag, and couldn’t tell if Cooper was wearing a wig or not. Those were some tight curls.
“American
Hustle” is certainly fun, there’s no denying that. Unfortunately, underneath the glossy sheen is
an unfocused mess which makes the whole thing ultimately forgettable.
Other
Notes:
Ø I
really wish the rest of the movie had been more like the first scene. That was great stuff, and Cooper hadn’t gone
full blown crazy yet.
Ø Lawrence’s
accent was atrocious. It would actually
come and go in the course of a sentence.
Ø I
felt really bad for Carmine Polito.
Renner and Bale killed their last scene together.
Ø This
film might as well have stared Amy Adam’s sideboob.
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