Movie Review: American Hustle

“American Hustle” is a story of slimeballs and scumbags.

I loved it.

To give some perspective, the only character in the film with any socially-redeeming qualities is the corrupt mob-connected mayor of Camden, New Jersey, who’s on the take.

Everyone else in the film wreaks of the narcissistic me-ism that was so prevalent during the late 1970s, ventilated in a motley tapestry of flashy excess — wide velvety lapels, giant bouffant hair, and grand illusion.  Everyone tries to be someone they’re not.

And that’s the whole point.  We’re told life is all a giant con game.  We pretend to be other people in order to get ahead.  Sure, it’s a cynical outlook, but not entirely an exaggeration when we examine what politics, business, and entertainment have morphed into over the past 30 years.  We’re aghast at the lies and deception all around us, when the truth is — we’re all players in the game, each taking a leading role.  Indeed, people will do unthinkable things given the right circumstances.  We all do what we must, to survive.

Based loosely on the then-controversial (and legally questionable) FBI stings which became known as ABSCAM, the movie based (very) loosely on a true story follows the exploits a couple of scam artists.  We never quite know who’s screwing who, or who will end up holding onto the ticking time bomb with a burning fuse.  But we know an explosion’s coming, and so do the characters as scenes build slowly upon each other for what becomes one con trapped within another, busting to get out.

This is an Actor’s Studio tour d’ force, a movie absolutely loaded with outstanding performances — none more stunning than Christian Bale, who’s become the big screen’s consummate “method actor.”  Those who watched Bale’s marvelous Oscar-winning performance in The Fighter (2010) are unlikely to recognize the much beefier English actor’s presence here.  Bale plays the Scheister role to perfection, yet also manages to tug at our hearts with so many physical and emotional vulnerabilities.  It’s a testament to a magnificently-written character and Bale’s natural ability to immerse himself totally into any role.  Move aside, Daniel Day-Lewis.  You’ve finally met your match.

Bale’s partner in crime and romantic other half is played by Amy Adams, who gives yet another stand-out performance following memorable roles in Julie and Julia, The Fighter, and The Master.  Like her co-star, Adams’ character requires lots of complexity.  We must ponder which way she’ll go in the end, including which man she’ll choose to run off with.

That “other” man is Bradley Cooper, who gives what’s undoubtedly his best career performance.  Cooper plays an emotionally-fried FBI agent who nabs both Bale and Adams early in the movie.  To get the charges dropped, Cooper offers the duo a deal.  The three bumbling personalities, complete opposites of one another, somehow must manage to work together to take down the Mafia and an army of corrupt elected officials.  If that sounds like a total mismatch — it is.  And that’s why the film has so many wonderfully funny moments.

Much has been made of this past year’s can-d0-no-wrong super-actress, Jennifer Lawrence, and her role in the movie as Bale’s estranged and emotionally-unstable wife.  She’ll get the Best Actress in a Supporting Role nomination, to be sure.  But the movie really belongs to Bale, Adams, and Cooper who aren’t quite as over the top with their performances, and must draw us towards them in more a challenging manner — with subtlety.  A stellar cast is rounded out by Jeremy Renner playing the kindhearted, but the corrupt mayor who’s trying to expand casino gambling in Atlantic City.  It’s also one of the year’s best-supporting actor performances.  There’s also a nice cameo by a screen legend that won’t be revealed here, adding to the splendor of what is the year’s best acting cavalcade.

Directed by David O. Russell (Three Kings, The Fighter, Silver Linings Playbook), who also wrote the screenplay, this is his best work by far.  He’s assisted by a cast he knows all too well since everyone has worked numerous times with Russell on his previous films.  Moments in this movie are riveting, almost opera-like in how a story, emotions, and a wall of sound perfectly come together.  No doubt, Russell was heavily influenced by Martin Scorsese’s approach to storytelling (Mean Streets, Goodfellas, Casino), both in terms of style, pacing, and the ceaseless integration of popular music into the plot.  Many classic hits of the 1970s are interspersed into the movie, which becomes a toe-tapping festival for the eyes and ears.

American Hustle does come with some flaws.  For one thing, the movie drags occasionally.  Character-driven movies can be tricky since everything relates to how and why people act the way they do.  The movie would have been better served by trimming away some excess fat.  Perhaps this is due to significant amounts of dialogue being improvised by the actors, at Russell’s prompting.  Scenes were reportedly allowed to run long when the writer-director thought things were working.  At a total run time of 2 hours and 9 minutes, 15 minutes of this extemporaneous theater could have been cut out, and the end result would have been a leaner and tighter film, perhaps even a masterpiece.  That said, the film’s many strengths more than makeup for this one critique.

This is one of the best films of the year, maybe the best.  It should garner a fair number of Oscars, particularly for Christian Bale, who should be a slam dunk for Best Actor.

I give American Hustle an A-.

And no, I’m not conning you.

READ: More of my writings on scams and hustlers