A star studded cast is not always a guarantee that a movie will be good. The Counselor is a recent example (if the reviews are believed). There is only so much great actors can do with material which isn’t good enough. American Hustle is full of great actors: Amy Adams, Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Renner and Jennifer Lawrence. The question is whether the story is as impressive as its cast.
Christian Bale plays Irving Rosenfeld, a man who learned at an early age that you are responsible for your success. He has several dry cleaners, but also makes extra money selling fake art or promising big sums of money if someone pays him a couple of thousand dollars. He is a hustler and living his life comfortably, while taking care of his wife, played by Jennifer Lawrence. When he meets Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) at a party he falls for her and he allows her into his world and she becomes his partner in crime. Together they manage to earn quite a bit of money, but unfortunately they end up in a position they’d rather not be. They are forced to work together with Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper), trying to find some dirt on the mayor of New Jersey, played by Jeremy Renner. As the situation slowly starts to get more complicated you are wondering if they will manage to succeed.
American Hustle is an excellent crime drama, which almost immediately throws you into a situation the main characters are struggling with. You do not know yet what is going on and who’s who and the movie takes its time slowly filling in the blanks. Director David O. Russell, who in the past has directed movies like Three Kings, The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook), know how to build up the tension and making you care for the characters on screen. Those characters are convincingly brought to life by the cast. Christian Bale has put on a lot of weight for the role and is as good as ever. The rest of the actors and actresses are great too. Amy Adams talks with an English accent, Bradley Cooper shows that he is at home in these type of movies and hopefully will take similar roles in the future. Jennifer Lawrence has fun in her role as manipulative wife and has some great moments.
As a whole the movie kept me entertained and the story has enough unexpected twists and turns to keep you guessing where it will all end up at the end. Even though the movie is longer than two hours I felt it ended way to soon as I felt so invested in the characters and story that I wanted to see it go on for longer. There was not a moment the movie bored me, so I can recommend seeing this if you have not yet.
Solid review. I’m working on mine right now. Great cast. It definitely has momentum going into the Oscars.
What do you think it will have a chance to win at the Oscars?
Good review Nostra. Everybody, from the smallest to the biggest roles here, is clearly having a ball with their roles and never settle for nothing more than a good time. Though that’s all it may be, it didn’t quite matter much to me as I was just there to enjoy the ride.
Thanks Dan. Yeah, there isn’t a weak performance in this film. An enjoyable ride indeed.
Good review Nostra. It certainly entertained. There’s no doubt about that and the cast were just sublime. Glad to hear you enjoyed it too.
Thanks Mark, had a great time with it. Have to admit I’ll watch Bale in any movie though
Great review. I agree that the characters, and the actors that played them, were great. I just don’t think that the plot did the film justice, and in the end the characters just didn’t go anywhere.
Did not have any plot issues and thought it rounded it up nicely.
I felt the film was a little slow to get going, but it picked up quickly enough. The impressive cast really do carry the film, and Amy Adams is gorgeous.
Bale is often dedicated to his roles, losing weight, gaining weight, building muscle mass and occasionally getting really pissed off when someone moves I light. I like that.
Yeah? I was immediately under its spell 🙂 Never been a huge Amy Adams fan, but starting to appreciate her more.
Amazing what Bale is willing to do for his roles. Yeah, that outburst is something no one will forget any time soon.
I have got to make time to watch this one.
Good review.
Thank you Victor. Give it a shot!
Another great review; well done. Loved this film.
Thanks!
Saw this not long ago – what a great (and funny) film! Not as hilariously black as The Wolf Of Wall Street, mind you, but damn I found plenty to enjoy in this one.
And is it just me, or did women not like wearing a bra back then? I swear, Adams and Lawrence spend the whole film bra-less!! This isn’t a complaint, mind you, just an observation.
Yeah, it was a very enjoyable film. You seem to be right, I did not notice any bras either 😉
I liked it and for someone who hated (I don’t use that word often) Amy Adams in Superman, I loved her in this. I think it will go in that spot in my brain of movies I can watch over and over again and enjoy them. Other movies like that for me are Casino, Goodfellas, American President, A Few Good Men and a few others.
She did not have a whole lot to do in Superman I thought.
This movie has its charm, but for me it is not one I plan on rewatching. I get the appeal though. I have a long list as well of movies I love watching over and over again.
I have it 8 too but in terms of praise and nominations and awards his film is seriously overhyped. My fav performance was definetly Christian Bale, he was the real heart of this movie.
I agree with you on that…there were quite a lot of movies and actors which were way better than this one.
Nice review. Interesting question you ask about whether the story is as good as its first class cast. For me I’d have to say that although the performances were outstanding and kept me interested, the plot resolution felt a little hollow, lacking tension. Still love Russell’s attention to character complexity though and looking forward to seeing how the Oscars pans out.
Well, I do think there was tension, but it could have been raised a bit more. It built up to something which payed off, but it could have been shown in a more dramatic way. Is that what you mean?
Nice review Nostra. I felt the film worked extremely well as a character piece and felt the balance between drama and comedy was executed extremely well. However, for me, I felt the characters out-shined what felt like a rather underwhelming storyline…at times. All in all though, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Thanks a lot. I have heard more people complain about the storyline and get that, I personally had no issues with it though. Good to see you also enjoyed it.
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