Review of Amsterdam (2022) by Strumbore — 14 Oct 2022

This is made by the same director who made "American Hustle". The cinematography, comedic timing, and acting are very good. I enjoyed Amsterdam. But it suffers at the very end from a very common issue with movies like this, where the script tries to tie everything together too quickly in a single scene. I still enjoyed my time with it but regret that the story is more muddled than it should have been. I chalk this up to the studio not being able to decide if they wanted to dramatize the actual event the movie is based on, which is called the 'Business Plot', or make a satirical allegory for contemporary corporate-backed, fascist movements. The movie lands poorly in the last couple of scenes because they try to make their fictional murder-mystery plot tie too quickly into this historical conspiracy that is central to the plot but has only been developed superficially.

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Https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Plot.

The Business Plot (also called the Wall Street Putsch[1] and The White House Putsch) was an alleged political conspiracy in 1933 in the United States to overthrow the government of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and install a dictator.[2][3].

Retired Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler asserted that wealthy businessmen were plotting to create a fascist veterans' organization with Butler as its leader and use it in a coup d'état to overthrow Roosevelt. In 1934, Butler testified under oath before the United States House of Representatives Special Committee on Un-American Activities (the "McCormack–Dickstein Committee") on these revelations.[4] Although no one was prosecuted, the congressional committee final report said, "there is no question that these attempts were discussed, were planned, and might have been placed in execution when and if the financial backers deemed it expedient.