Continue reading at Graffiti With Punctuation.
A domain of film news and reviews, covering new releases, film festivals and classics alike, edited by Andy Buckle, a Sydney film enthusiast and reviewer.
Friday, December 20, 2013
Review: American Hustle (David O. Russell, 2013)
David O. Russell’s second film to hit Australian screens over the
past twelve months – following his masterful romantic comedy/drama Silver Linings Playbook - is American Hustle,
a stylish, complex and genre defiant 70’s-set crime-caper with a
wonderful ensemble cast. Endowed with a manic sense of pace – the
characters talk fast, the camera is always active and conflicting tones
co-exist within the same scene – Russell and his co-screenwriter Eric
Warren Singer have successfully managed to wrangle this convoluted piece
of history into a cohesive screenplay with an entertaining fictional
twist. It is an impressive achievement that takes a little while to
process and a second viewing, once we understand each of the players and
where they end up, is perhaps essential.
It is Christian Bale’s Irving Rosenfeld, a brilliant con man, who
brings the emotional core to this loaded film. Along with his partner
and lover, Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams), Rosenfeld has built a successful
foundation of financial scams and fake art dealings on top of a
legitimate dry cleaning business. When a wildly ambitious and
unpredictable FBI Agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper) nabs them, they
are forced to help him take out corrupt Jersey politicians, and in
extension, intimidating members of the mafia, by conning them into
taking bribes. They don’t spend time in prison, and DiMaso makes a name
for himself. Their plan comes to involve the Mayor of Camden, New
Jersey, Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner), who gets caught between
friendship with Rosenfeld and the FBI ABSCAM scandal, and unexpectedly
Rosenfeld’s wife, Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence).
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