American Hustle
Directed by David O’Russell
Written by Eric Warren Singer and David O’Russell
Starring Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence and Jeremy Renner
Written by Eric Warren Singer and David O’Russell
Starring Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence and Jeremy Renner
Since the start of the decade, David O’Russell has gone from
strength to strength, establishing himself as one of this generation’s finest
filmmakers. With The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook, O’Russell has
been able to create emotional dramas mixed with his own quirky, Woody Allenesque
style of comedy. His debt to the bespectacled comedy icon is increased through American Hustle. As well as Allen,
O’Russell owes a huge amount to the equally diminutive and bespectacled Martin
Scorsese. In many ways, this incident of Scorsese-meets-Allen is both a homage
and parody of crime films such as Goodfellas
and Casino.
Loosely based on the Abscam sting operation of the late 70s,
American Hustle tells the story of
con artists and lovers Irving Rosenfeld (Bale) and Sydney Prosser (Adams) and
their compliance with FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Cooper) after he catches them
carrying out a loan scam. They soon are part of a campaign to incriminate Mayor
Carmine Polito (Renner), a hero to his constituents in Camden, New Jersey.
Together, Rosenfeld, Prosser and DiMaso try to catch Polito taking funds
illegally from investors looking to help Polito rejuvenate gambling in Atlantic
City, providing jobs and wealth for New Jersey. As well as this, Rosenfeld’s
mentally unstable and unpredictable wife Rosalyn (Lawrence) becomes involved,
putting the whole operation in danger. As mentioned earlier, American Hustle owes a huge debt to
films such as Goodfellas and Casino, two films that are also base on
true events. Instead of the true to life image that these films project,
O’Russell opts for a more honest declaration of its factuality, claiming that
“some of this actually happened.” This perfectly sets the tongue-in-cheek tone
of American Hustle, a brilliant crime
comedy-drama and O’Russell’s best film to date. This tone allows the film to
not take itself too seriously and take certain liberties with dialogue penned
by Singer and O’Russell. The imagery created is so rich and quirky without
trying too hard under the duo’s earnest penmanship. It is this passive
earnestness that leaves me wondering how no one ever thought of calling a
microwave a “science oven” whilst also marvelling at how they thought of
describing Roselyn as the “Picasso of passive aggressive karate”. The actors
sell it so well though. In one scene, Irving is talking about how he’s like the
Vietcong in such a ludicrous way but Bale and the excellent cast never let the
ingeniously idiosyncratic dialogue run away from them. In fact, O’Russell
allows the cast to take further liberties with improvisation so that the film
floats like air on a moral undercurrent. This decision to allow his actors
freedom shows a director with confidence in his actors and his screenplay.
Vibrant use of light, panning and general camerawork illustrates O’Russell’s
confidence in his directorial abilities. Much of the glamour, hilarity and
sadness in this film is down to O’Russell’s impeccable direction.
It must be a joy to direct a film when the performances are all first rate. From the five
fabulous actors on top of the billing, through to Louis CK’s turn as DiMaso’s
overseeing officer, all the way down to a small but pivotal cameo by Robert De
Niro, all the acting is close to perfect. Bale’s performance is especially
funny in the way he adds to the film’s feel of parody. Much of his comedy
borders on impersonation or cartoonlike lampooning of some of the crime genre’s
biggest stars and their macho bravado. In a scene in which Richie ruffles
Irving’s hairpiece, Bale gives off a comical stare of anger that reminded me of
Al Pacino in Scarface or office drama
Glengarry Glen Ross. His stammering
and hesitations are reminiscent of De Niro and even his facial contortions
mimic the Heat star. Bale never lets
this fall into flat impersonation though and instead makes what could have been
grovelling praise into mocking admiration. Lawrence portrays Rosalyn with
bombast but also with a sympathy that stops her from becoming irritating when
she flies off into eccentricities that become extremely endearing under her
control. Renner pulls off the good guy mayor who just wants the best for his
constituents without becoming condescending. Adams is mesmerising as Prosser
and gives her an animalistic desire to survive that is both admirable and
seductive. Cooper’s casting as DiMaso is arguably the most inspired casting
choice. His charisma and dogged determination shines through to make DiMaso,
who is probably the most unlikable character in the film, pathetic and pitiable.
Bale stands out as the best among equals somewhat because of his greater amount
of time on screen. However, it is his lack of vanity and his ability to make
this obese, toupee-wearing con artist the character with the greatest grasp of
respect and humanity. In his warts-and-all portrayal, Bale always accentuates
Irving’s warts for comic effect and his redeeming qualities to add a positive
edge to the sleazy criminal. The displacement of his ridiculous hairpiece is
offset by the sadness shown in his eyes, always drilling home the film’s
sentiment that hustling and lying are part of life, but it doesn’t mean that
the hustlers are always happy about it. He and the other actors see the
humanity in Singer’s and O’Russell’s wonderful screenplay. They see the care
that has gone into crafting these flawed but ultimately human characters. They
see that for the ridiculous 70s décor, hair and makeup and for all the film’s
glamour, the film is a story of humans and their imperfections, no matter how
hard they try to make things perfect.
Rating: 10/10
