American Hustle
David O. Russell has been a difficult filmmaker to get a grasp on over the years. I hated his debut film, “Spanking the Monkey,” but really liked his next two films, “Flirting With Disaster” and “Three Kings.” His 2004 comedy, “I <3 Huckabees," was a hit-and-miss affair with me, but his next two films, the Oscar winning "The Fighter" and last year's "Silver Linings Playbook," really landed with me. All the while, he's never made the same film twice, even if he's worked with some of the same actors multiple times.
With "American Hustle," he's doing another turnaround, and making a movie about con artists, and inspired by a true story, but doing so as a period comedy. The film has the feel of films like "Boogie Nights" and "GoodFellas" and "Blow" and other rags-to-riches tales that toe that line between comedy and drama, but it has an energy all its own. Inspired by the true story of the ABSCAM corruption case of the late '70s, Russell and co-writer Eric Singer are less interested in histrionics and political corruption than they are in the lies and cons people get involved with in order to enjoy life a little bit more than they otherwise would.
The film focuses in on Irving and Sydney, a couple of con artists who meet at a party, and are played by Christian Bale and Amy Adams, respectively. Each one has a past that they are trying to move away from, but it's their shared love of the con that draws them together. They fall in love, and make some money pretending to make investments for clients by pretending to have connections they really don't have. One day, however, they get busted by an FBI agent, Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper). The jig, as it were, is up, and not just for their cons; Sydney learns that Irving is, in fact, married to a seemingly dimwitted wife (Rosalyn, played by Jennifer Lawrence), and they are raising a son together, which crushes Sydney, but not for long when they agree to cooperate with Richie on nailing a few crooks for a chance to make a clean break. One of those crooks includes a New Jersey mayor (Jeremy Renner) who seems clean, but also isn't above a little bribe if it'll help the people he serves.
When I was thinking about this movie after just seeing the posters and trailers, what was really going through my mind (besides how impossibly hot Adams and Lawrence look) was, "Man, you got Batman (Bale), Lois Lane (Adams), Mystique (Lawrence), Hawkeye (Renner), and Rocket Raccoon (to be played by Cooper in "Guardians of the Galaxy") in the same movie together!" But none of these people are superheroes, in any sense of the term, in "Hustle," but rather people who tell lies to each other, and themselves, to get by in life. DiMaso plays like a hard-ass cop when he's just an insecure guy who is making himself out to be more than he is. Renner's mayor IS a nice guy, but also knows that, to provide for his community, he needs to be in league with the right people. Irving and Sydney provide the bulk of the narration for the film, and they're the most honest with themselves about who they are, but they know their lies are likely to get them hurt, or hurt one another, if they push things too far. About the only person who is honest with both themselves, and the other people in their life, is Rosalyn, who just wants to make sure her and her son are taken care of. In a way, that makes her the most honorable one of the bunch, but she's not above getting hurt, either. Still, she does make out alright by the end, and she's not the only one.
This is all juicy material for an actor, and Russell and Singer give this cast (which also includes Louis C.K., Michael Pena, Elizabeth Rohm, and an uncredited Robert DeNiro) a meaty bone to chew off of. The story is fittingly outrageous for Russell, but what makes "Hustle" really burst off the screen is the cast. Those main five, all previous Oscar nominees (or winners), give dynamite performances, with Cooper and Renner starting off as merely "very good" in the "straight man" roles, and Lawrence, Bale, and Adams really bringing it home the crazier their characters get. And all three are kind of crazy, in their own way (Adams's, for instance, has affected a British accent for so long she forgot she wasn't British). Lawrence has the broadest role of the three, and she's a force of nature whenever she's on screen, trusting Russell (who directed her to an Oscar with last year's "Silver Linings Playbook") every step of the way with a brazenly funny, and oddly poignant, performance. The real stars, though, are Bale and Adams, each of whom do some of their finest work to date as the "star-crossed" lovers at the center of the story. Through their performances (and especially through their voiceover), we get to understand the thinking behind a good con with an expert's wit and passion. We also get to watch two great actors do a wonderful dance of love, fun, and betrayal that is every bit as funny and touching as the equally deranged pairing Lawrence and Cooper made in "Silver Linings Playbook." That's what Russell has always really excelled in over the years– the unlikely love story –and in "American Hustle," he has a doozy of one, and Bale and Adams make it a pleasure to watch.
