American Hustle (2013)
Laura’s Rating: 3.5/5 Stars
A fictional telling of a real-life scandal featuring an ensemble cast.
Plot: Loosely inspired by the “Abscam” case in the 1970s, the movie features low level scam artist Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) and Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams), who team up to start pulling big con jobs. FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper) busts their operation, but offers them leniency if they help him catch other scam artists. The sting operation gets out of control quickly, threatening to ruin each of them and even put their lives in danger.
Analysis: This movie was entertaining and occasionally funny, but it was a lot more serious than I expected overall. The costumes are fun and some of the settings are glamorous but there’s an intense undertone for much of the film. The movie reminded me a lot of Goodfellas - showing the dark underbelly of a seemingly glamorous and exciting life of crime. However, this movie was not as fun from the beginning as Goodfellas started out, so the juxtaposition between appearance and reality is not as strong.
I really liked Amy Adams in her role and she easily stood out as the best performance for me. Christian Bale and Jeremy Renner also delivered good performances. As I said earlier, the film was more serious and intense than I expected and after a while, the story started to drag on. Fortunately, the ending paid off and brought it back for me. I enjoyed the film but I also think it could have been better in its execution.
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