Time: 138 Minutes
Age Rating: Offensive language
Cast:
Christian Bale as Irving Rosenfeld
Amy Adams as Sydney Prosser
Bradley Cooper as Richie Dimaso
Jeremy Renner as Carmine Polito
Jennifer Lawrence as Rosalyn Rosenfeld
Director: David O. Russell

In 1978, a brilliant con man Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale), who along with his equally cunning and seductive British partner Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) is forced to work for a FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper). Richie makes a deal for them to help him nab four additional white collar criminals for their ultimate release without charges. Their initial target is Camden, New Jersey Mayor Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner), who is trying to revitalize Atlantic City as a gambling mecca, which requires an influx of investments in the millions. DiMaso pushes Irving and Sydney into a world of Jersey powerbrokers and mafia. Irving’s unpredictable wife Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence) could be the one to pull the thread that brings the entire world crashing down.

David O. Russell has made another great movie. With a masterful script, great performances and the ability to transport the audience into the 1970s, American Hustle is a great movie. It is a movie that will entertain you, surprise you and overall, it’s a movie that is really enjoyable to watch.

The script by David O. Russell is absolutely fantastic. The story goes from a range of tones, from being hilarious to being quite tense. There was never a moment where I could predict where the movie would go next. Not making a comparison here, but there were moments in the movie that were reminiscent of Goodfellas, especially with the narrations. The narrations are actually done by multiple people here, which is a risky move but David O. Russell managed to pull it off. There are some flashbacks for some characters and they are tied in and edited very well. Every scene seemed to be interesting and entertaining. All of the characters had layers and go to many places with many emotions, which is made even better with the fact that their actors really understand them.

Christian Bale is the best he has been in years, physically transformed himself by gaining a ton of weight. It’s not just the weight though; Bale gives really embodies the character that David O. Russell wrote completely. Amy Adams here is the best that I’ve seen her. Bradley Cooper is also really good here, and this just might be his best performance; it’s a tossup between this and Silver Linings Playbook. Jeremy Renner is also really good here giving one of his best performances. Jennifer Lawrence stole every scene she was in, despite her not being in the movie as much as the previously mentioned cast. There is also a surprise cameo that I won’t spoil, which is when the main characters are dealing with the mafia. The actors really played off each other really well and completely embody their characters, giving some of the best performances of their careers.

The film really manages to make the setting feel like the 70s as well as L.A. Confidential managed to make its setting feel like it’s in the 50s. The hairstyles and costumes are really distinctive and fit the time period. The cinematography was in the style of Goodfellas, sometimes the film has longer takes, especially through narrations and it fitted the style they were going for. The soundtrack also really suits the time period and are perfect for every moment that the songs were put in.

American Hustle is an entertaining and unpredictable movie that is at least worth a watch. There are many people who walked out of this movie, not understanding the hype that most people gave it, so I won’t guarantee that everyone will love it. However at least for me, this is an enjoyable movie, filled to the brim with great performances, excellent writing and overall ends up being a great movie.