[Movie Review] American Hustle (2013)

Posted on December 19, 2013 by thegrandshuckett in Movie Reviews // 1 Comment

Plot Summary: 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.

Director: David O. Russell

Writer: Eric Singer, David O. Russell

Runtime: 138 min

Main Cast:

Christian Bale as Irving Rosenfeld
Bradley Cooper as Richie DiMaso
Amy Adams as Sydney Prosser
Jeremy Renner as Mayor Carmine Polito
Jennifer Lawrence as Rosalyn Rosenfeld

Review: by Anthony and Lee

American Hustle was destined to be great. David Russell was once again teaming up with Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, and Christian Bale after working successfully with each in their multiple award winning movies, Silver Linings Playbook and The Fighter respectively. We knew this combination of director and actors would blend seamlessly, and the product of their work would be nothing short of amazing.

What We Liked:

The acting was spectacular. Christian Bale, the overall star of the film, made tremendous artistic choices that really brought his character to life. These choices really added to his already supreme acting talent to build the perfect Irving Rosenfeld, unassuming and harmless, the perfect con man.

As great as Christian Bale was, however, he was given a run for his money by Jennifer Lawrence. With every movie that she adds to her filmography, her skill increases substantially. We loved her character, the ditzy kept woman who put up with Irving’s shenanigans for her own strange reasons while manipulating him and ruining things at every turn. Her interactions with Christian Bale were some of the best scenes in the movie.

Bradley Cooper also does a great job in this movie as Richie DiMaso. His best scenes were those with Louis C.K. and their constant battle between the overly ambitious FBI Agent (Cooper) and the reserved, by the books boss (Louis C.K.).

Amy Adams and her character, Sydney Prosser, however, best represent the overall theme of the movie. Sydney Prosser, like Irving Rosenfeld and Richie DiMaso, strove to be something more, anybody other than whom she really was. When she donned her british persona, Lady Edith Greensleeve, the con was on, and her mantra of “people believe what they want to believe” could be seen throughout the entire film.

Great actors can only really thrive when working with a great script with a fascinating story to tell, so these actors really had room to flourish.

Throughout the movie, we were constantly trying to keep track of who was conning whom and what emotions and relationships were built on truth and which were merely a farce. It was nice to not have everything figured out from the beginning. It was definitely well done.

All of the characters in the film, Irving and Rosalyln Rosenfeld, Richie DiMaso, and Sydney Posser had decent amounts of screen time to develop their backstories and explain their current situations. This was best demonstrated by Jeremy Renner’s character, Mayor Carmine Polito. The moral situation of “good intentions” really came into play with his character and posed the question “is it wrong to partake in illegal activities if it’s all done in the best interest of the people?”

The lengths to which Christian Bale goes in order to fully dedicate himself to his roles needed to be mentioned again. An outfit and hairstyle can only transform an actor so much, but for this role Bale, without any prompting or asking from the director, put on 43 pounds of what looked like pure ice cream and cheeseburgers to make Irving Rosenfeld paunchy and rotund. He even went as far as to shave part of his head to make his elaborate comb over all the more believable. He also decided that he would slouch in most scenes, and keeping up that terrible posture throughout the filming resulted in Bale herniating a disc in his back and losing 3 inches of height. His dedication definitely paid off.

The costumes, to match Bale’s intensity, were elaborate. In almost every seen Amy Adams could be seen in a dress showing all the cleavage and side boob you could possibly handle. Not to be left out of the eye candy category, Jennifer Lawrence was equally as beautiful and stunning as Adams with her fancy hairstyle and plunging neckline dresses. Also, Bradley Cooper had a perm. It was hilarious.

What We Didn’t Like:

The characters could be very frustrating at times, and their morals were ambiguous at best. It all came together by the end, leaving us satisfied and happy, so it was not much of a problem.

Summary

American Hustle was fantastic. It told a great story that kept us interested all the way through to the end. The actors were all strong and really brought their characters to life wonderfully, and the comedy is well placed throughout the film.

Sending