Note: There are some things about this movie that were pointed out as I finished this review. This is more of a first impressions review of what I thought after seeing it the first time. When it comes on DVD, I may rent it and do a follow-up review.
"American Hustle" has great performances, but the story is a little too convoluted for my taste.
Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) makes a living of cheating people of their money with his partner-in-crime/lover, Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams). The couple does this by telling some poor, unsuspecting souls of an awesome investment opportunity. If they but write a check for $5,000, they will be paid back $50,000. The catch is, these people are not paid back. It is a scam.
This works pretty well until the couple tries to screw over the wrong man, Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper). DiMaso turns out to be an FBI agent, who arrests Rosenfeld and Prosser.
The agent makes a deal with the con-artists that if they can help him make four busts by using their skills, he will let them go. They decide to take on Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner), a mayor in New Jersey who is well-liked for having taken steps create jobs. They want to bust him for taking money illegally, which he would only do as a means of helping the economy.
This movie has an all-star cast, and they all did a very good job in their roles. They were often over the top, but they were also believable.
Christian Bale does a great job. He gained a lot of weight to be in this role, and every time he was on screen I could not help but think "I can't believe that dude was Batman!" It is easy to forget that it is indeed a fatter version of Bale.
The person who stole the show was Jennifer Lawrence. She plays DiMaso's wife (yeah, he has a wife and a lover). Her character is an air-headed, blonde housewife who is constantly messing everything up. Some of the biggest laughs from this movie were caused by her. My favorite scene has to do with her and a microwave oven.
I really did not like Amy Adams in this movie. She is always dressed provocatively, leaving very little to the imagination. To me, who grew up in a religious home, it looks like her choosing to be in this film and show all the skin is demeaning to her. Every time she is on screen, that is all I can think about. It actually distracted me from the story. This is from my own personal bias, however. I know a lot of people will disagree with me on this.
As an actress, Adams does a good job in her role. A friend of mine pointed out that there might be reason for her to have worn what she did. It has something to do with what she plans to do with DiMaso. I will not reveal what it is, but she talks about it with Bale near the beginning.
I was a little disappointed with this movie. With a 93 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, I was expecting something as awesome as "Her." I did not think it was. The plot is very convoluted. As I sat in the theatre, I wished I had a remote control to rewind the film so I could hear some of the important plot points.
Leaving the theatre, I wondered if I was an anomaly for not thinking this movie was worth the hype. In order to get some confidence back, I watched one of my favorite internet reviewers, Jeremy Jahns, who speculates that the film might have been made because director David O. Russell had worked with a bunch of people in previous films. He wanted to make a super film with a super cast. Jahns said there were too many characters, and having a little less would have made the film better.
I have to say that I agree with him. The reason the plot is so confusing is because there are so many characters and side characters doing so many different things. Had it been more focused, it would have been much better. There is a really cool mobster played by Robert DeNiro, and it would have been great if the plot focused more on him and less on the complicated love triangle between Rosenfeld, Prosser and DiMaso.
What was great about this movie is how it ended. It is well executed and it leaves some interesting questions to ponder about right and wrong.
Overall, this is a pretty good movie. I do not think it is worth the 92% on Rotten Tomatoes, and I do not recommend seeing it in theatres. I give it 3 out of 5 stars. Go see it when it comes to Redbox.
Content: Rated R. There is some brief topless nudity. There is quite a bit of sexuality including one sex scene. One character is constantly dressed provocatively in tops that are very revealing. There is about the average amount of language for a rated R movie: quite a few F-words including some in a sexual context.
For more details on what I base my ratings off of, visit http://criticalchristopher.blogspot.com/2014/01/defining-rating-criteria.html
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