The most talked about film in the states has finally arrived to the Philippines. Of course I wanted to see it; I’m a big fan of director David O. Russell’s two films (The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook). And in this one he combined all of the ingredients that made those two movies work. I’ve got to see it.

So here’s my round up of American Hustle (2013).

Please note that there may be spoilers. Read at your own risk.

THE STORY:

Small time conman and sleaze ball Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale – The Dark Knight trilogy, The Fighter) along with his mistress Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams – Enchanted, The Fighter), gets busted by glory-hungry FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper – Limitless, Silver Linings Playbook). DiMaso decides that he can use these two scums to pull in more con men and promises to let them go if they help entrap four more crooks. Irving and Sydney agree and cooks up an elaborate plan which quickly snowballs into something far more complicated. Pretty soon, the charmig mayor Carmine Pollito (Jeremy Renner – The Avengers, Hurt Locker), a bunch of other politicians and the mafia become targets for DiMaso’s scheme. Things get complicated when Irving finds a true friend in the mayor’s person and his wife Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence –Hunger Games, Silver Linings Playbook) unwittingly lets loose a few of the details she’s overheard to one of the mobster’s men.

THE GOOD:

1. Christian Bale. The guy is a gross, middle-aged pot-bellied scum with a comb over (“that’s rather elaborate”) and yet in the whole film he’s the one you root for. How the eff does he do that? My heart actually went out for him during the times he was clutching his cheat and chugging down “heart pills” because of the stress.
   
2. Robert (fucking) De Niro.. It’s a tiny part but it’s one of his more menacing roles to date. Me and the guy seated behind me both gasped when he appeared on screen; I had no idea that he was even in this! It’s a testament to the other actors’ star power if you remember that they were even included in the same frame with Robert DeNiro and as star-studded this film is, it was only ChristianBale who can go head to head with this legend. I particularly love the character he played because even though he wasn’t physically there to remind the audience that he existed, we, along with Irving, feel his weight hanging over our heads.
3. The Soundtrack.. Any movie that plays Duke Ellington, Frank Sinatra and Billie Holiday gets an A plus in my book.
4. Amy Adams.. Especially her British accent, which, I think, is pretty respectable. Not a lot of American actors can pull that off.
   
5. The Hair. Whoever came up with the hair designs were a freakin’ genius. The hairstyles said so much about the characters that they didn’t have to open their mouths.
6. Jeremy Renner.. He played the collateral damage so well and so sincerely that from the get-go, when it was revealed that he was the mark, I sort of went into a panic, worried what would happen to him. It’s fun watching him play “normal” people roles; he’s always been a capable actor, albeit an underrated one.
   

THE BAD:

1. Jennifer Lawrence.. I know, gasp, gasp, how could I. But she’s essentially playing the same role in Silver Linings Playbook, if albeit the less dark and more annoying version of Tiffany. It’s still a stellar job and all but the similarities are too big to be overlooked.
2. Bradley Cooper.. See item #1. Really, remove the freakin’ curls and you get the same person. Sure, the character’s a little bit more over the edge and infinitely more annoying, but essentially the same crazy person. Hell, even the dance moves were the same.

THE UGLY:

1. An anti-climactic ending. For such a humongous build up, the ending was kind of a let down. Considering the piles of shit that was laid upon the protagonist, the ending didn’t live up to the set up at all. Or maybe it was just that the ending was rushed? The beginning and the middle were set at such a leisurely pace that the resolution of the conflict seemed abrupt.
2. The weird timeline of the story.. I don’t understand why the movie opened up the way that it did; as scenes go it wasn’t the most emotionally charged one and it wasn’t pivotal to the plot. Now that I’ve thought at about it I probably would have preferred it had they done away with the flashbacks and just told the story in a linear manner.

All in all it’s an entertaining movie; the music and the dancing more than make up for all of its flaws. I guess if you haven’t seen Silver Linings Playbook yet you’d appreciate this more. I just find both films too similar. Maybe it’d have worked better if they switched the characters that Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence played?

THE VERDICT: 7.5/10. Catch it, if only for the hair.

*All photos are from the film’s IMDB page.