American Hustle (2013)
Directed by David O Russell
Starring:
Christian Bale
Bradley Cooper
Amy Adams
Jeremy Renner
Jennifer Lawrence
Louis C.K.
Running time: 138 minutes
Plot Synopsis: (via Wikipedia)
American Hustle is loosely based on the FBI ABSCAM operation of the late 1970s and early ’80s. It stars Christian Bale and Amy Adams as two con artists who are forced by an FBI agent (played by Bradley Cooper) to set up an elaborate sting operation on corrupt politicians, including the mayor of Camden, New Jersey (played by Jeremy Renner). Jennifer Lawrence supports the cast as the unpredictable wife of Bale’s character.
My Opinion:
Be brief… Be brief… (Trying to make myself keep this short – I ramble on too much!)
This movie was good. Not great. A little overrated. (Sorry). I came away from it with the same sort of feeling I had after finally watching Silver Linings Playbook recently. Some very good performances in both films but, overall, something is missing. They both feel a little hollow. And come to think of it, I felt sort of the same way about The Fighter (I reviewed that in my early days HERE. Ugh – I should re-read that before linking to it. My old reviews were even worse than my current ones).
Like with the other David O Russell films I’ve seen, it’s more about the performances in this one than the story itself. Don’t get me wrong – the story is okay but didn’t exactly blow me away. I was more excited to see the female actresses in this than the actors as I don’t really like Bradley Cooper or, especially, Christian Bale. However, Bale ended up being the best thing about the film – I really warmed to his character by the end of the movie. I love Amy Adams and think she also did a good job in this (and I loved all her 70’s outfits even though seeing so much of her boobs got a little disturbing after a while when I just watched her as a Disney Princess in Enchanted the other day). Lawrence & Cooper were good but I felt a bit like I’d just watched them doing somewhat similar characters in Silver Linings Playbook.
Summary:
American Hustle has a lot of the elements I like: Great actors & performances, decent script, good music (ELO!), and the 70s (I love that ugly-ass decade). But something about it didn’t QUITE work (for me) overall. It was good. I enjoyed it. Bale & Adams were great. It’s the first film I’ve gone to in 2014 but I already know where it’ll rank in my end of year list: somewhere in the middle. I’m looking forward to The Wolf Of Wall Street more, which comes out here on Friday. Will be interesting to see which one I prefer.
My Rating: 7/10
Cinema Parrot Disco 
I refuse to believe your old reviews were even worse! 😉
I haven’t seen this yet but i like some o’ them Jennifer Lawrence boobs
Thanks! Wait… What??
You see a lot more of Amy’s boobs than hers…
Totally agree with you here on the fact that this is waay over-rated but great performances.
Good! Was afraid everyone would disagree & tell me that the movie is brilliant. : )
No, I’m totally with you Mutant!! I enjoyed it too, but yeah it’s overrated and I hope it doesnt get too many wins at the Oscars.
I am expecting American Hustle to win the majority of awards even though it doesn’t deserve it…
Tee-hee, it’s a very funny thing! It came away with zippo!!!!! 😀 😀
Lol! Yep. I really did think it would end up winning a bunch of Oscars. I’m glad it didn’t. Not that it’s a BAD film – I quite enjoyed it. Just not Oscar-worthy. : )
I will most definitely be watching this flick for one reason and one reason alone – the sunglasses.
Every single promo photo, trailer and poster has the most awesome retro shades I’ve ever seen.
Agree – the sunglasses are groovy! As are all the clothes. And wigs. I love the 70s! : )
It is probably a little overrated but I think I liked it more than you did. It was just so much fun!
Agree – I did have fun with it. Overrated or not…. : ) I wanted to be Amy Adams. She looked hot. Although it’s unfair that the girls looked great & all we had to look at were really ugly guys!
I agree.
This is good, but it is not great. I think Russell over-directs a bit, telling what he’s already showing. If he’d just gotten out of the way, the actors could have made this pretty tremendous.
I will contend, however, that Lawrence’s character in this is very different from her character in Silver Linings. She’s not nearly so smart here. And she’s far more manipulative.
But she’s pretty crazy in both. ; ) True – the film may have been better if he’d let the actors just do their thing a bit more as they’re a very talented bunch. I kind of liked it exactly as much as I expected to, though.
Nothing wrong with your reviews! I enjoy reading them! To be honest, I have seen none of the movies, so I will have to look into it…
Excellent review, as always.
Now about that Wolf Of Wall Street comment… I really hope you get to see it this weekend, it was a freaking amazing film!
Thanks! 🙂 Yep – I plan on watching it as soon as I can. And hoping I like it much more than this. I do think Leo is great so I’m more excited about seeing him than I was about any of the actors in this one.
Oh you will (do you like Scorsese and DiCaprio’s collaborations?), it was just great.
HA!!! I am so with you on that. I just start jumping when I see his name attached to a project, what an amazing man!
I’m not that crazy on Scorsese but like what they’ve done together. : )
Well then, this is just more to add of the awesome things they do when they collaborate. I thought it was absolutely hilarious, well written, stellar acting all round and the soundtrack was suited, too.
But now the question begs, will some narcotics, nude scenes and language throw you off of this?
Narcotics, nude scenes and language? Now I want to see it even MORE! ; )
I think your reviews are GETTING worse.
Aww. Thanks for the complim… Wait. What?!
Bastard. : P
I blame the meth.
I’ve read all of your old shit and I think it’s all fantastic. So there! NYAH.
This movie is getting a lot of action lately out here on WP and nothing is really compelling me to get off my ass and watch it. Sell me on it…
( ! )
There are boobs.
I saw Enchanted the other day too. I even put it in my latest quiz ha. It had flaws but I think I liked the film more than you
I did like it but glad someone agrees there are flaws. ; ) I’m hoping to catch up on blog reading tomorrow – want to see these quizzes, then! I like a good quiz. : )
Definitely. Please let me know how you do. And if you think of any categories also feel free to mention them.
Hmmm, fair points. I enjoyed this more than you, although there are better films out there right now.
Thanks. : ) I did enjoy it too but just know it won’t be at the top of the list come the end of the year…
Sounds like your reaction is pretty on par with mine. Look at us being all like-minded and whatnot! Nice review, lady! 🙂
Yay! We agree! I like it when people agree with me… Because I’m always right. Lol! : )
Hahaha that makes two of us! 😉
No matter which way you spin it, this movie is a ball to watch. That’s mainly thanks to the amazing cast who, despite having to work with some messy material, get through it all so perfectly in an enjoyable, high-functioning manner. Nice review.
Thanks. : ) I do think the acting was better than the material…
Total mess of a flick! All involved were running around like headless chickens doing impressions of people in other films (DeNiro was the favourite impression of the cast it seems) with not much of it clicking. The whole thing made me want to watch Goodfellas…so I went and watched Goodfellas.
Nice review.
Thanks. : ) Glad someone kind of agrees with me (although it sounds like I enjoyed it a bit more than you did). Agree that Goodfellas is much better!
I completely agree with your thoughts on this movie. It was good but not great. It’s a candy-floss movie: one you like but dissolves and fades away. No-one will remember this film in 5 years time. However, the title was misleading…it should have been called ‘American Cleavage.”
Amy Adams was really good in it I though and she pulled of a surprisingly good accent at times. I’m glad she got an oscar nod for it.
Candy-floss movie – I like that! Perfectly sums up this film! As does American Cleavage. : ) I do like Amy Adams, though, and agree she was good. But I’ve just seen The Wolf Of Wall Street and, as I suspected, it’s a much better film than this one…
Great review !!! Sorry I’ve been such an absentee commenter lately Mutant!!! 😦 But hey, now I get to blast through some of your recent posts, and I see a couple of very good titles I want to hear more about. I’m glad we are more or less on the same page about this film. I almost fell asleep in the film’s opening half hour, it was so exposition-heavy!
That’s okay – I’ve been a horrible horrible commenter! I’m sooooo behind on reading other blogs. Never find the time. : ( Glad that this is another movie we seem to agree on. : ) And I’m just back from The Wolf Of Wall Street & I think that is a FAR better film than this!
haha yeah it can really get out of control with me, too. i opened up my browser the other day and saw 30 new posts and i’m like. . wuuuttt. Time to get to work! 😀
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I’m watching this movie for an upcoming blogathon….
Reallllly?? I thought you’d already seen it? What blogathon??
Yep, nope, and: it rhymes with FitFest.
Lol! You know I actually tried a few rhymes before I got that…? ; )
HAHAHAHAHA!!!! Love it!!
I can be a little slow on the uptake sometimes… :-p
LOL
I like that it now looks like this review got lots of comments, I guess!
it had 47 before we started talking on here – that’s a shitload!!
Did it?? Oh yeah – it was before the Hughes Blogathon – back when people actually commented on my shit! Lol! What did I give this? A 7? I was being nice. It was very overrated!
You did – I HATE this fucking movie.
Wonder if we’ve hit 60 comments yet…
Keep em coming and we will 🙂
Amy Adams is cute
I will give that up!
None of the guys in this were cute : (
Nope – not at all…
I’d take Amy Adams over Jennifer Lawrence, I think
Absolutely 🙂
I wonder if anyone will EVER see these comments… Lol
I’m sure someone will 🙂
I’m out of things to say about this movie. What did you have for lunch? : )
LOL – pasta salad with Greek dressing and a Nestle Crunch : )
Ohhh… Nestle Crunch! Not easy to get everywhere here.
They’re pretty yummy!!!
3 Musketeers was my favorite : )
Those are good too! Been eating a lot of Milky Ways lately too 🙂
I miss grape flavored stuff. They don’t do that here. Even the purple Skittles aren’t grape.
WHERE THE HELL DO YOU LIVE????????
#ThirdWorldCountry
is this movie ten hours long???
Feels like it!!!
fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck
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