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American Hustle, the latest film to come from writer/director David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook), begins with the line “Some of this actually happened”. What percentage of it lingers around the truth is difficult to say, and you will likely scratch your head in wonder at how incredulous some of the characters and their actions tend to be. But the operation itself ultimately involves a con man, Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale – The Dark Knight), the use of a fake sheikh to capture senior politicians accepting bribes, and working with the mob to build casinos. And if you were to accept only a fraction of what takes place during American Hustle as the truth, you are likely to leave the cinema marvelling at how an FBI sting operation named Abscam (Arab Scam), ever came to be.
Beginning in the Plaza Hotel, New York, Irving stands in front of a mirror applying glue and bundles of what looks like hair to the bald parts of his head. He then takes some of his real hair, brings it across, and sticks it down, creating a comb over Donald Trump would nod approvingly at. The time and care he puts into preparing himself in this way seems to be a reflection of how meticulous he and his scams are. Once ready he goes into a room where Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams – Man of Steel), who is pretending to be an English woman by the name of Lady Edith Greensley, waits along with FBI agent Richie Di Maso (Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook). The room is rife with sexual tension between this dysfunctional love triangle. They very quickly become irritated by one another as the operation they are involved in approaches. In his frustration agent Richie Di Maso loses it and ruffles Irving’s hair, completely messing it up, showing how something that has taken a long time to prepare can be dismantled in seconds.
Once they compose themselves they end up in a room with the Mayor of Camden, New Jersey, Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner – The Hurt Locker), who Di Maso attempts to capture on video accepting a bribe with all the casualness of a monster truck at the Monaco Grand Prix. After Polito declines and walks out of the room offended, Irving is sent after him.
A flashback showing how Irving Rosenfeld and Sydney Prosser meet follows this, where their love of Duke Ellington leads them to fall for one another. Wanting to be honest with Sydney, Irving tells her how he makes a living, which she can relate to given their similarities, especially how driven they both are. This is where she dons the English accent and becomes Lady Edith Greensley to help reel in the marks.
Their scams, as Irving describes them, “were so successful for so long because we kept it just small enough”. However, they are eventually caught by Di Maso and compelled to help him with what starts as a somewhat modest operation, going after small time crooks, but which aggressively develops into a much larger sting involving senators and and East Coast gangsters, cue Robert Deniro (Taxi Driver) as Victor Tellegio, which came as a pleasant surprise to me seeing as I had no idea he was in American Hustle when I went to see it. During this flashback we are also introduced to Irving’s wife, Rosalyn Rosenfeld (Jenifer Lawrence – The Hunger Games), and his adopted son, who he is unwilling to leave when Sydney suggests running after they are first caught.
The beauty of American Hustle is not so much that it is a film about Abscam, but that it is about each of the many people who became involved in it, which increases as the film goes on and the stakes of the operation are raised. This focus on character first as opposed to plot is not detrimental to how the story progresses either, despite it meandering here and there, showing how the beginning operation evolves into Abscam through Di Maso’s enthusiasm to make a name for himself at the FBI.
The ensemble cast is very strong, with outstanding performances all round, and David O. Russell gives each of them ample amount of screen time. Christian Bale and Jenifer Lawrence are especially delightful to watch, and any time Rosalyn is onscreen there is this feeling of, ‘oh no! What is she going to do next?’, adding a certain unease to her quite hilarious and maladjusted character.
At first I found Bradley Cooper’s performance quite bland, yet as his character begins to spiral out of control through blinded ambition it became far more accomplished, albeit reminiscent of his character in Silver Linings Playbook, and some of the best scenes involve him, Bale, and Adams in this constant power struggle and game of ‘who’s conning who’ as they try and work together. Adams Once again shows her sophistication as an actress who can turn her hand to any role. I recently watched The Fighter again where she plays a barmaid from Boston. Here she works her way seamlessly through a film as an American woman posing as a British Aristocrat.
Jeremy Renner blends with the rest of the cast and delivers some great work as the least corrupt character in the entire film, who is surprisingly a politician, and the relationship between Irving and Carmine Polito draws on the audiences sympathy at how good a man this Mayor seems to be, where all he wants to do is genuinely help his constituents, while the entire time he is being set up by someone he thinks to be a friend. He even gives his new pal a “science oven”, which in turn allows for some priceless moments from Rosalyn again.
American Hustle is not only excellent in the way it juggles its colourful characters, all of whom are connected, deceiving, manipulating, and endangering one another, but it moves you back to an era with vibrant costumes and a memorable soundtrack. The dialogue, largely improvised according to Christian Bale, is snappy and clever, something I loved about the film as a whole, which makes me appreciate the direction even more, because the actors seem to have been given free reign, for the most part, and it has produced fantastic results. David O. Russell has quite a solid filmography already, and American Hustle is an outstanding addition to it. I paid £6.00 (Student Discount) for a ticket to see American Hustle at Cineworld, Fountain Park, Edinburgh.
Rating: Worth a Ticket
Beginning in the Plaza Hotel, New York, Irving stands in front of a mirror applying glue and bundles of what looks like hair to the bald parts of his head. He then takes some of his real hair, brings it across, and sticks it down, creating a comb over Donald Trump would nod approvingly at. The time and care he puts into preparing himself in this way seems to be a reflection of how meticulous he and his scams are. Once ready he goes into a room where Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams – Man of Steel), who is pretending to be an English woman by the name of Lady Edith Greensley, waits along with FBI agent Richie Di Maso (Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook). The room is rife with sexual tension between this dysfunctional love triangle. They very quickly become irritated by one another as the operation they are involved in approaches. In his frustration agent Richie Di Maso loses it and ruffles Irving’s hair, completely messing it up, showing how something that has taken a long time to prepare can be dismantled in seconds.
Once they compose themselves they end up in a room with the Mayor of Camden, New Jersey, Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner – The Hurt Locker), who Di Maso attempts to capture on video accepting a bribe with all the casualness of a monster truck at the Monaco Grand Prix. After Polito declines and walks out of the room offended, Irving is sent after him.
A flashback showing how Irving Rosenfeld and Sydney Prosser meet follows this, where their love of Duke Ellington leads them to fall for one another. Wanting to be honest with Sydney, Irving tells her how he makes a living, which she can relate to given their similarities, especially how driven they both are. This is where she dons the English accent and becomes Lady Edith Greensley to help reel in the marks.
Their scams, as Irving describes them, “were so successful for so long because we kept it just small enough”. However, they are eventually caught by Di Maso and compelled to help him with what starts as a somewhat modest operation, going after small time crooks, but which aggressively develops into a much larger sting involving senators and and East Coast gangsters, cue Robert Deniro (Taxi Driver) as Victor Tellegio, which came as a pleasant surprise to me seeing as I had no idea he was in American Hustle when I went to see it. During this flashback we are also introduced to Irving’s wife, Rosalyn Rosenfeld (Jenifer Lawrence – The Hunger Games), and his adopted son, who he is unwilling to leave when Sydney suggests running after they are first caught.
The beauty of American Hustle is not so much that it is a film about Abscam, but that it is about each of the many people who became involved in it, which increases as the film goes on and the stakes of the operation are raised. This focus on character first as opposed to plot is not detrimental to how the story progresses either, despite it meandering here and there, showing how the beginning operation evolves into Abscam through Di Maso’s enthusiasm to make a name for himself at the FBI.
The ensemble cast is very strong, with outstanding performances all round, and David O. Russell gives each of them ample amount of screen time. Christian Bale and Jenifer Lawrence are especially delightful to watch, and any time Rosalyn is onscreen there is this feeling of, ‘oh no! What is she going to do next?’, adding a certain unease to her quite hilarious and maladjusted character.
At first I found Bradley Cooper’s performance quite bland, yet as his character begins to spiral out of control through blinded ambition it became far more accomplished, albeit reminiscent of his character in Silver Linings Playbook, and some of the best scenes involve him, Bale, and Adams in this constant power struggle and game of ‘who’s conning who’ as they try and work together. Adams Once again shows her sophistication as an actress who can turn her hand to any role. I recently watched The Fighter again where she plays a barmaid from Boston. Here she works her way seamlessly through a film as an American woman posing as a British Aristocrat.
Jeremy Renner blends with the rest of the cast and delivers some great work as the least corrupt character in the entire film, who is surprisingly a politician, and the relationship between Irving and Carmine Polito draws on the audiences sympathy at how good a man this Mayor seems to be, where all he wants to do is genuinely help his constituents, while the entire time he is being set up by someone he thinks to be a friend. He even gives his new pal a “science oven”, which in turn allows for some priceless moments from Rosalyn again.
American Hustle is not only excellent in the way it juggles its colourful characters, all of whom are connected, deceiving, manipulating, and endangering one another, but it moves you back to an era with vibrant costumes and a memorable soundtrack. The dialogue, largely improvised according to Christian Bale, is snappy and clever, something I loved about the film as a whole, which makes me appreciate the direction even more, because the actors seem to have been given free reign, for the most part, and it has produced fantastic results. David O. Russell has quite a solid filmography already, and American Hustle is an outstanding addition to it. I paid £6.00 (Student Discount) for a ticket to see American Hustle at Cineworld, Fountain Park, Edinburgh.
Rating: Worth a Ticket
