American Hustle Review

I saw American Hustle on January 11, 2014!! Now while this movie may not have alot of action going on, it had great characters and an exciting plot. It follows the lives of con artists, FBI agents, and politicians. We look at the lives of Irving Rosenfeld, who was played perfectly by Christian Bale. He was probably my favorite part of the movie overall. I thought his physical appearance especially his ridiculous comb-over were hilarious, but Bale made that appearance work. That appearance combined with his eccentric personality was really fun to watch. Bale really stole the show throughout the movie. I felt like his presence in scenes made it that much better.  He is a very good actor, and I feel bad for people that only have seen him in Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy. Check out performances like American Psycho, The Prestige, The Fighter, and definitely American Hustle. Along with Irving, we look at his relationship with Sydney aka Edith for conning purposes played by the gorgeous Amy Adams. She looked absolutely amazing in this movie, and in my opinion this was one of her strongest performances. The system they used early on showed that Sydney was the brains of the operation, even though Irving was the one that brought her into the con...okay, so maybe she overheard him talking about how he liked meeting her which led to their partnership, but still Irving wouldn't have been as successful without her involvement. FBI agent Richie DiMaso played very well by Bradley Cooper eventually comes into their lives and turns things upside down by throwing them into a world of corrupt politicians and casino gangsters. Richie has alot of ambition, and he believes he can take them down. The catch is: he needs the assistance of Sydney & Irving. Irving does not like Richie, while Sydney is caught in the middle. I thought Amy was really the glue between the two characters. Her acting has always impressed me. The tangled web of shenanigans that Richie gets them involved in has Irving worried, because one of the men Richie wants Irving to help bring down ends up becoming a good friend of his: Mayor Carmine Polito which Jeremy Renner did a great job with. Bale really did well dealing with the conundrum of conning him all along which may get him arrested in front of his wife and children. He really dislikes Richie for this reason and his closeness with Sydney. Irving loves Sydney, but is also married to a truly unlikable character in his wife Roselyn. The reason he stays with her is because he loves the son-which isn't biologically is, but he still loves. Besides Sydney, its the person he cares about most. Throughout this movie whether its dealings with the mob in a back room-great cameos by Robert DeNiro and Michael Pena or a huge face/off between Sydney and Roselyn, you really get into the scene. I loved Sydney, but loathed Roselyn. While I enjoyed Bale, Adams, Cooper, and Renner, I truly disliked Jennifer Lawrence's performance. Last year, she was incredible in Silver Linings Playbook. I thought she was way too over the top here and I didn't think she did well with the role at all. I rolled my eyes when she was miming to Live & Let Die as it threw off the seriousness of the dilemma Irving was in at that moment. I feel alot of people overrate her acting, because I don't think its as good as people say. I know a mob will now come and beat me up for saying that, but its my opinion and I'm entitled to it. The interactions with Christian Bale, Amy Adams, and Bradley Cooper were the best parts of this-Bale & Adams are two of my favorites and Cooper is a pretty good actor. The three of them together created some fun and intense moments at all times. I like that Adams & Bale are on the Golden Globe list, and I expect them to be on the Oscar list as well. I really don't feel Lawrence should be on the list for this, but I don't make the decisions. Overall, I would give this a 4/5. This is a very good character driven movie with some interesting plots, great twists, and, for the most part solid performances.