Review of American Hustle (2013) by David K — 01 Dec 2014

Hustle is a complex drama with a fast-moving plot. It wants to be a heist movie, but the drama is too complex and gives too dark a tone to pull that off. Yet the dramatic arcs are abruptly resolved in a 5 minute expository denoument that banks heavily on the weight of a rather predictable con-twist double cross. But 5 minutes isn't really enough to give that kind of twist much satisfaction. The character arcs feel like they were written for a tv miniseries and just got forced into this plot structure for the sake of making a movie.

Amy Adams and Bradley Cooper had some pretty powerful bits, but the rest were better than average but not amazing. Bale seems like too much of a lump to lead a movie like this? Louis CK's role and the running joke with it were the best thing in it but still nothing too special.