Review of American Hustle (2013) by Brandon W — 17 Nov 2016

American Hustle is directed and co-written by David O. Russell, and it stars Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, and Jeremy Renner in a crime comedy film about con artists doing a con job, they were successful, but got themselves in trouble, and so they are working with the FBI to get a politician in trouble.

I remember being excited for it based on the trailers, and the high reviews. When I got to watch it, I remember being deeply disappointed in it and was thinking that it wasn't as good as Silver Linings Playbook.

So more than 2 years later when it was out in theaters, I come across it again, giving the film a second chance, and watch it again to see if my opinion on it has changed. Luckily my opinion on it was higher, but it still wasn't at the high heights as Silver Linings Playbook.

The cast are at their A game here, especially Christian Bale in his weight gain, Bradley Cooper having a balance of calamity and craziness, Jennifer Lawrence acting a bit crazy, but also stupid at the same time, and Amy Adams doing something that's different from her usual movie career.

The story is really good here, which I'm glad the the movie addresses that some of the story event actually happened, so that it knows itself that it's inaccurate too. The soundtrack by Danny Elfman is very classy to listen to, and it's fitting for the time setting of the film.

The direction by David O. Russell is very vibrate, and the writing by the director and Eric Warren Singer is well done. The characters are well developed, and It goes by pretty fast. I know that the movie was advertised as a black comedy film and that it was praised for being funny, but there were barely any moments that I was laughing at, and I wasn't quite sure if I just missed them, or just didn't find them that funny.

It's probably a bit too overlong for me that it felt like it was stretching itself a bit. I enjoy American Hustle and would like to see his next film Joy, but it's not his best film and with the lukewarm reviews that Joy had, I'm probably gonna presume that Joy is not going to be up there with Silver Linings Playbook either.