Movie Reviews: American Hustle | Release Review on Jan 17th 2014
Movie Reviews: American Hustle
Movie Reviews: American Hustle
David O Russell made an immediate impact with his offbeat romantic comedy Silver Linings Playbook starring Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper. In the director’s latest movie American Hustle, the duo reappear along with an impressive cast of Amy Adams, Christian Bale and Jeremy Renner. The story this time is inspired from the FBI ABSCAM operation of the late 1970s and early 1980s.
storyline follows the conning duo of Irving Rosenfeld (Bale) and Sydney Prosser (Adams) getting caught by up and coming FBI officer Richie DiMaso (Cooper) in a routine bust. Richie makes a deal with the two to let them off if they help him catch corrupt politicians and mafia bosses as well as members of Congress.
The movie might seem simple on paper but Russell makes it a point to infuse humour at just the right points and builds the story ‘from the feet up’ as Irving keeps saying in the movie. This makes for an enjoyable first half where we learn more about the two central characters and how Richie’s arrival and subsequent bust changes the equation. In contrast the second half where Renner, who plays Mayor Polito of Camden, New Jersey, gets far more airtime than is probably necessary.
Lawrence plays Rosalyn, the unpredictable wife to Irving and the sequence with the two and a ‘science oven’ is probably the best part of the movie. What Lawrence lacks in screen time, she more than makes up by grabbing attention with her act. Throw in a guest appearance by Robert De Niro as a mafia boss and the screenplay goes into overdrive trying to keep everything together.
The performances all deserve a special mention in fact with the best one coming from Bradley Cooper as the unhappy personal mama’s boy who is out to make a point to the world and his scared boss to take him seriously. Russell also employs music to great effect and includes some chart-busting numbers from legendary acts such as Frank Sinatra, David Bowie, Bee Gees, Elton John and Ella Fitzgerald to name just a few.
The dialogues, cinematography, crackling chemistry between the cast members, even their hairstyles, all come together in Russell’s signature offbeat and entertaining style. However, with a running time of 138 minutes, American Hustle is just a tad longer to keep viewers engaged throughout. Not everything comes together all the time through the long screenplay. Thus, while the movie will win many awards apart from the ones it did at the Golden Globes, calling American Hustle a great movie is probably stretching it a bit too much. Definitely a watch when it hits theatres.
src: mensxp
