So if any of you guys read my first review, you'll remember how I was surprised that I had seen every film by Alfonso Cuaron when reviewing Gravity (2013). I had the opposite experience with this movie. I have never seen a film by David O. Russell and yet he has a great track record and a string of hit films. He's come into the spotlight recently for writing and directing the majorly successful Silver Linings Playbook (2012) and The Fighter (2010). Both were major financial and critical successes. He has recycled the leads from those two films as well for this film (Christian Bale and Amy Adams from The Fighter and Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence from Silver Linings Playbook) to form a really powerful ensemble cast that not only has the chops to play the characters but will surely draw in a lot of box office.
About the Movie
I liked the movie, and I'd recommend it. If you're hoping to catch up on the better films of this year I'd say for sure watch this, Inside Llewyn Davis, Blackfish (2013), and any other films I've given positive reviews for. I'd say go watch The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) or 12 Years a Slave (2013) but I haven't seen them yet.
However, if you were just looking to see one film for the hell of it, I'd recommend something else. Probably The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013), not because it's the best (not by a longshot) but because everyone else is seeing it. Do you want to be out of the loop?
By the way, am I the only one who thinks "desolation of smaug" sounds kinda dirty?
But as I way saying, American Hustle is pretty solid, and good enough to make me want to watch O. Russell's other work.
It's something thrown out there over and over again, but the movie is really worth it due to the performances. I've been on that Jennifer Lawrence bandwagon ever since The Hunger Games (2012), and I didn't even particularly like that movie. She's just fun and charming like everyone says, and she's a legitimately good actress. It's one of those performances that made me reflect on myself. Like, wow, I haven't cried in like two years, and yet she can just make herself cry for a scene. How do people do that? Amy Adams is equally as good, Actually going back and thinking about it, she had some pretty intense and emotional scenes that made me forget about Rosalyn entirely. But at the risk of sounding sexist, I have to say that my highest praise has to go to the men on this one.
Christan Bale, as always, does a really good job. Well, he actually does too good of a job to the point that I am concerned about him. His method of constantly gaining and losing weight for roles is going to be the death of him (literally). Apparently all the weight he put on combined with the intentionally bad posture he adopted to play the greasy con-man Irving Rosenfeldt gave him permanent back damage.
But can I just say one thing? I might get heavily persecuted for this, but I just don't think Christian Bale is a chameleon. He's a terrific performer with impeccable instincts, It's just that I'm always aware that I'm watching him play a character. He's sort of like Kevin Spacey or John Malkovich. Still extremely watchable and skilled, but I just know it's them under all the makeup.
Same sort of goes for Bradley Cooper, but he actually sold his character pretty well in this film. He started out as a sort of straight man, but then he actually became spectacular right as the film started wrapping things up. Jeremy Renner gave a similarly intriguing performance. He actually pulled off his character (whose name I can't recall, we'll call him goofy New York Mayor) really nicely.
Aside from the acting the film had good camera work. It had style, panache, and all that- but the kind of movie that despite it being well made and stylish it still doesn't quite hold up on its own. Luckily it had the ensemble (and really fun cameos from Louis C.K. and Robert DeNiro) to save it.
If you're looking for something to dazzle your eyes, this movie will do it for you. It's got a 70's, camera style. It's very Scorsese. There are excellent slow motion sequences, long takes, snap zooms, etc. Only problem is that it just doesn't ascend to something really great. It isn't ripping anyone off, it's just that the homage seems a little shallow sometimes, the scenes seem strung along the same level so it's hard to tell where the film is going, and then when it doesn't end up going anywhere after a few scenes you start to get frustrated.
Overall, though, still pretty good. Worth the admission.
Movies I Also Saw This Week
Blackfish, Brazil (1985), The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
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