American Hustle
Back in the 90’s when The Crying Game was a popular movie,
David Spade said on Saturday Night Live: “I’m about to reveal the big secret
about The Crying Game… (whispering) it’s overrated…”
That joke came to mind when I was watching American Hustle,
at least during the first lazy hour. With all the high praise the film has been
getting, I guess I just expected more.
You wouldn't want to know any of these people in real life,
or trust them with anything important. There’s
a popular American literary tradition to change con men and misfits into
working-class heroes. The trouble with American Hustle is that you don’t have
much to work with on either side of the law.
The lead characters – played deftly by (in order) Christian
Bale, Jennifer Lawrence, Amy Adams and Bradley Cooper – do grow on you near the
end of the improbable and fictional ending. But it’s a bumpy ride. The two best
characters are the mafia don from Miami and Cooper’s boss at the FBI who is the
true working-class hero of the story. They’re played with aplomb in their brief
scenes and I’ll keep that actors a secret because they’re about the best things
in this movie.
David O. Russell directs and, as with his previous film
Silver Linings Playbook, gets the most out of his actors and weak story.
American Hustle is based upon an obscure, late-70’s scandal known by the racist
moniker Arab Scam which was shortened to Abscam. It netted some local
politicians, a couple of US congressmen and a Senator. While the convictions
were upheld, the methods employed by some ambitious FBI agents helped rewrite
the laws when it came to such investigations, making it much harder to nab the 'real' bad guys.
How does Christian Bale complete his character's awful combover?
A shaved belly visible in other scenes may provide a clue.
What is done extremely well is recreating the kitsch of that
era with all its butterfly-collared, gold chain glory. One of the best scenes
takes place in a disco straight from Saturday Night Fever and, man, can Amy
Adams and Bradley Cooper dance. I've never seen a sexier rendition of the Bust
Stop.
But all that glitter doesn't make up for the fact that this
movie takes forever to get off the ground and when it does, the flight is short
and they run out of cheesey goldfish. A little research showed that the ending
is just complete fantasy.
This is definitely a movie to rent a few weeks from now. While it may garner some awards for acting, sets and costumes, it gets nothing
more than two Wilders from me.
Our Overlooked Film of Significance for the Week: I really
like Amy Adams and there is any number of her films worth watching that you've probably missed. I would recommend Enchanted because it is so improbably good.
A fairy tale character (Adams) gets sucked into contemporary New York City having
to deal with all the drudgery of daily life with which the rest of us must contend.
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