Hello there, film
folk! This time of year can only mean one thing in the film world – yes, awards
season is upon us once again. Exciting times, right? So, considering that American Hustle is up for several gongs
this year (and already snapped up the top prize at the SAG Awards the other
weekend), it seemed a pretty good idea to wander down to the cinema and give
this film a go. Yes, I’m well aware that other films are also nominated for
various awards (12 Years a Slave, for
example), but as I discovered the film’s director David O. Russell last year
with Silver Linings Playbook (read my
review of the film here),
I thought it might be fun to compare his previous work. And I certainly wasn’t
disappointed.
Based on a true
story from the late 1970s, the film follows two top con artists, Irv Rosenfeld
(Christian Bale) and Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams), who are forced into working
for the government by overly curly haired FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley
Cooper) in order to entrap a supposedly corrupt politician. But, as you would
expect from Russell, this does not run quite as smoothly as Rosenfeld’s horrific
comb over. Irv has a wife, Rosalyn (the ever amazing Jennifer Lawrence, who
very deservedly won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for this role),
who I felt almost singlehandedly got all the laughs from the audience. She’s
very jealous of Sydney – who Irv is hopelessly in love with – and suspicious of
his work, which at one point leads him into danger. The other problem is that,
really, it’s not just the con artists working to fool everyone; each character
appears to be plotting against someone else, whether they love them or hate
them, and usually for their own benefit.
What essentially gripped me about this film was the style. The music, the
era, and the gravelly-voiced narration from Christian Bale seriously reminded
me of Martin Scorsese’s brilliant Taxi
Driver; in fact, much of the film had a touch of Scorsese about it. Even
his frequent partner in crime Robert De Niro makes an appearance. Perhaps
Russell is already following in Scorsese’s footsteps in reuniting with a
similar cast (De Niro, Cooper and Lawrence all starred in Silver Linings). Well, if they’re fantastic actors, why change? However,
what didn’t win me over so much was the length of this film – yep, it’s long.
But in saying that, you have to concentrate pretty hard on the plot to understand
it, so I think if many scenes were cut then I would have wound up very
confused. That was the only snag, though.
To summarise; I hugely enjoyed this film. It’s fresh, sharp, with a
star-studded cast, and definitely what the film world needed to shake things up
this awards season.
Rating: 4 stars – if you find yourself with an afternoon to spare, head out
to see it!
Georgie
