Review: American Hustle

Review: American Hustle
*Spoilers Alert
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Official 'American Hustle' Poster.

       Definitely one of the major players during the awards season, 'American Hustle' is truly an enjoyable movie that uses its cast's talents to the utmost.

"Jennifer Lawrence", "Elisabeth Rohm",
"Christian Bale" and "Jeremy Renner".

"Amy Adams" and "Christian Bale".

      The movie introduces us to 'Irving Rosenfeld'(Christian Bale), who owns a several dry cleaners. But we soon find out that he makes most of his money from being a con artist, selling fake paintings and hooking customers on empty loans. He soon meets a stripper named 'Sydney Prosser'(Amy Adams) who has much motivation and spirit like him, which makes him fall in love, with her and assign her as his accomplice. But when entrapped by FBI agents 'Richard DiMaso'(Bradley Cooper), who is obsessed in taking credit to take down corrupt New Jersey brokers and politicians, they are forced to work with him. They soon start their operation, which is basically targeting Camden mayor 'Carmine Polito'(Jeremy Renner), who is highly admired by the public. But when the operations starts to change and take a turn to the worst, will 'Irving' and 'Sydney' be able to save themselves, especially when they are further endangered by 'Inrving''s young and struggling wife 'Rosalyn'(Jennifer Lawrence)? Other characters include 'Richie''s boss 'Stoddard Thorsen'(Louis C.K.), 'Paco Hernandez'(Micheal Pena) who also poses as 'Sheikh Abdullah', FBI secretary 'Brenda'(Colleen Camp) and 'Stoddard''s boss 'Anthony Amado'(Alessandro Nivola).

"Christian Bale", "Amy Adams" and
"Bradley Cooper".

"Bradley Cooper" and
 "Amy Adams".

      Based on true events, the movie's script has been kept on hold for many years and its development seemed unattainable. But when finally the movie find a home, work on it started progressively. From the moment production started high expectations were set for the movie due to the various elements that were present. And for the most part it delivered well to both critics and audiences. This movie genre, which is a crime comedy-drama film usually fall short due to the similarities that are found from previous movies. However, from the start this movie looked like the movie to beat during this award season, which already looks to be as competitive as last year. Especially with the motivation that it got from its director and the talented cast that it has. 

"Jennifer Lawrence" and
"Amy Adams".

"Bradley Cooper" and
 "Christian Bale".

      Director "David O'Russell" just came from a spectacular year, where his movie was nominated and won various awards. What is commendable is the directing style of "David", which focuses primarily on the characters and making the movie character-driven rather than story driven. On the positive side this approach makes the audience more engaged in what is happening, but on the negative side when the story takes a back seat movie gets lost a few times but it manages to get back on track fast. The movie's story, which was written by "David" and "Eric Warren Singer", does a good job getting from the real events and joining them from ideas that are fiction. And the creation of the 1970s atmosphere was perfectly done, while still being relating it to our modern time in terms of values and ideologies. "Danny Elfman"('Silber Linings Playbook' and 'Oz: The Great and Powerful') does a good job with the score further establish the time frame of the movie.

"Jeremy Renner".

"Bradley Cooper".

      The movie chain of events was done very cleverly. The retrospect idea of the first movie sequence was an enjoyable one to allow the audiences to engage with the characters and want to know what their deal is. The time frame for me was a bit problematic since I thought it was a bit too much. Overall the tone of the film was nicely balanced between being serious and comedy, when each was needed. It must be noted that though the movie was based on true events (FBI Abscam operations), there were many differences such as the back story of 'Carmine Polito' and 'Irving Rosenfeld'. My favorite scenes were all the scenes that included "Jennifer Lawrence", 'Sydney' being detained, and the confrontation of 'Irving' and 'Sydney' after being exposed.

"Amy Adams", "Bradley Cooper",
"Jeremy Renner", "Christian Bale"
and "Jennifer Lawrence".

"Jennifer Lawrence".

      With "David O'Russell"'s style to concentrate on the characters, a spectacular and talented cast was needed and that is exactly what he did. "Christian Bale" is an exceptional actor who will be always known giving his all while playing a role. And the physical change that he made (gaining 40 pounds) shows the dedication that he brings to the table. "Amy Adams" is also one of the best actresses nowadays and in demand. And that shows with her ability so cleverly combine drama and comedy. "Bradley Cooper" proves that he can play characters other than the generic handsome characters. "Jeremy Renner" also succeeds in portraying such an emotional character which he accomplishes by the sincerity of the characters. However the star of the whole movie is "Jennifer Lawrence", the actress has been on an exceptional run since last year and continues to succeed till now. To make the audience love such a messed up character by showing them 'Rosalyn''s true identity and that she is just like anyone else who made bad choices is just phenomenal. This role will surely make her a contender for best Supporting Actress in the 2014 Academy Awards. The supporting characters are given the ability to shine, especially "Louis C.K." who shines the most.

      Once again "David O'Russell" succeeds in bringing a crowd pleasing experience to the big screen, through combining comedy, social and passion in one movie.

Official 'American Hustle' Posters.

-'American Hustle' Info:
-Starring: Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Renner, Jennifer Lawrence, Louis C.K., Micheal Pena, Colleen Camp and Alessandro Nivola.
-Studio(s): Annapuma Pictures and Columbia Pictures.
-Directed by: David O'Russell.
-Written by: David O'Russell and Eric Warren Singer.
-Music by: Danny Elfman.
-Running Time: 138 minutes.
-Budget: $ 40,000,000.
-Box Office: -Domestic(US): $ 150,020,000.
                    -Foreign: $ 101,054,000.
-Ratings: -IMdb: 7.8/10.
                -Rotten Tomatoes: 92%.
                -Metacritic: 90%.

                -PERSONAL RATING: 8.1/10.

-'American Hustle' Trailer: