Review of American Hustle (2013) by Dierregi — 16 Feb 2014

The very messy plot should be about a convoluted scam played by a couple of swindlers, “forced” to work for the FBI. The swindlers happen to be Irving (Bale) and Sydney (Adams), also involved in a torrid extramarital affair. Irving is married to Rosalyn (Lawrence) a single mum, whose son he adopted. Like most married men, he stalling divorce because the “child would suffer”.

Irving and Sydney get busted by Richie (Cooper) an ambitious FBI agent who forces them to get bigger fish into the agency net. Or, at least this should be the plot, because it gets derailed in all directions, none of which even remotely interesting.

It feels like the whole movie is a scam played on the audience, starting with Lawrence. I understand that she is the present ”Hollywood-IT-hot” girl, but her part is bloated out of proportion, when her character was at best a marginal one.

She is constantly on screen, shouting all her lines and going on endlessly about her relationship with Irving. Who cares? I wanted to see a movie about a hustle, not a dysfunctional couple in action, especially when their dysfunctions are not the core of the plot. We also get plenty of the Sydney-Richie relationship (and again, who cares?).

Everybody is exceedingly verbose, and situations that would require at most 30 seconds of screen time drag on for several minutes. Even considered as a “character study”, the movie still does not work.

Besides, the “moral” of the story is a murky one and an additional joke played on the audience: whoever makes more money (regardless of their methods) is smarter than anybody holding an honest job.

Corrupted politicians are portrayed as minor offenders, dealing dirty deeds for the good of the community. Richie is played as a fool, while mediocre Irving and Sydney are glorified as first-class tricksters. Even dumb and insufferable Rosalyn gets a happy ending of her own.

The best thing about American Hustle is the 70’s atmosphere, with some amazingly tacky clothes and a good soundtrack, but it is definitely not enough to save the movie. Unbelievable to think this mess got 10 Oscars nominations….