American Hustle boasts a stellar cast including my favorite actor, Christian Bale. However, I must confess, I found the first half of the movie extremely boring, as did a few movie patrons, some of whom walked out. I, however, decided to stick it out and I’m glad that I did.
Christian Bale, as usual, gives it his all. He actually shaved his head for that funny hair comb-over scene, and gained 40 lbs. for his character. Bradley Cooper gives a terrific performance, as the ambitious but incompetent FBI agent. Amy Adams on the other hand, her performance felt rather flat. She seemed very uncomfortable in her role. As far as I was concerned, Jennifer Lawrence was the star of the movie. Her role as the dumb blond wife was simply riveting!
The movie really starts to come alive when the director began to focus on the supporting characters. I absolutely loved Jeremy Renner’s portrayal of Mayor Carmine Polito. As some of you may already know, Renner’s character is based, somewhat, on New Jersey Mayor of Camden, Angelo Errichetti. Renner’s portrayal brought heart and soul to the movie. Comedian, C.K. Louis’ deadpan performance had me laughing up a storm. American Hustle is not a re-enactment of the Abscam scandal but more an indictment on what power hunger people will do to for greater gain.
In all, I highly recommend you seeing this movie. It is R rated so no young children. I give this movie 4 out of 5 stars.
Title: American Hustle (2013)
Director: David O. Russell
Cast: Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Jennifer LawrenceSynopsis: Loosely based on the Abscam scandal, of the late 1970’s, American Hustle is a sad tale about corruption and greed. Between 1978 and 1980 the FBI decided to run a sting operation to weed out corrupt politicians. All of which was made possible by a lovable con artist, Irving Rosenfeld and his associates.
