Arnaque américaine

I'd heard mixed responses about this film over the years so I had to finally give it a watch. And I'm sorry to anyone that hates this film, but I really enjoyed this one!

The first half an hour or so is quite bland I'll be honest. No obvious direction for the film to go in, I wasn't too sold on any of the characters and just generally the pace was really slow.

But the film massively picks up and it just gets better and better and more interesting with every minute that passes. The ending I thought was fantastic, it ended all the characters arc's amazingly well and had a brilliant twist involved which I didn't see coming.

The standout for me is the acting. When I saw the pretty extravagant cast lineup I was skeptical. Usually films that go all in with cast typically don't do too well. So when I saw Bale, Adams, DeNiro, Renner, Lawrence, Cooper and CK and more I was thinking just that. But this doesn't fall into that category at all! Acting from everyone was superb and a real standout, really added so much more to the characters. Just a great job overall.

But yeah, overall it's a fun, interesting watch with a little touch of subtle humour added which is always nice. 8/10 from me, would recommend.

While "American Hustle" has some nice performances, I was very surprised how unexcited I was watching this film. After all, around Oscar time, this was THE film that all the hype seemed to be about and the movie hadn't even debuted yet!! Critics were abuzz and the film got all the major nominations--Best Picture, Best Director, all the acting awards and four other nominations! If I were to create a list of most overrated films of all time, I would include this one simply because of all this hype. No film could be as good as this hype would indicate...and it wasn't.

The movie is a HIGHLY fictionalized retelling of the Abscam affair where the FBI caught a lot of politicians on tape taking bribes. The ending, in particular, is pure Hollywood, not fact. But, instead of focusing mostly on the scam, the film tends to glamorize the characters involved in putting over this sting--the confidence people as well as the FBI.

So why was I so underwhelmed by the film? The biggest reason is that I didn't like any of the people. And, oddly, the one I liked the most was the mayor (Jeremy Renner) caught up in the scandal. Any film about Abscam, even one as fictional as this one, needs to show bad people-- this didn't bother me. But the film so glamorized them and was all about them--and this left me flat.

A few other things bothered me a bit. First, the f-word was not THAT commonly used in the 70s like it is used today. Historically, this is inaccurate, as it was used something like 27102391294 times. Second, while I liked the period music (as well as some new music by Jeff Lynne that sounded period), it was often too invasive--like a music video.

In closing, I think if the film had never been hyped, I might have enjoyed it a lot more and scored it higher.

The performances are the safeguard for this movie to have a very long life. I couldn't care less about the characters but I loved the actors playing them. They, the characters, make choices that are as coarse as their wardrobe. Thank God for the people wearing them .Christian Bale is absolute perfection. His character is disgusting and irresistible at the same time. brilliant performance. Amy Adams is superb and Bradley Cooper an unnerving hoot - also the brief moment with Robert de Niro is simply delicious but it is Jennifer Lawrence who made me want to see the movie again as if to confirm what I seem to remember. Yes indeed. She is spectacular. A performance of such maturity - her laughter alone belongs to one of the great ones of yesteryear. - Totally present. A character actress/star.

The acting from all round was amazing. I find it very hard to believe that Christian bale didn't win a major award for his role I thought he was the stand out actor in this along side Jennifer Lawrence. It's crazy what Bale puts his body through for roles. The ending was perfect it ended exactly how I wanted it to.

Frankly, the movie itself does not live up to its hype. I never was fully engaged with any character even though it takes more than enough time and delivers a tedious and often painstaking pace. Honestly, it felt to me like the film dragged and that the ending would never arrive. Even though not fully engaged and not empathetic towards any character depicted, there is enough style that I somehow cared about how the story ended. Every scene seemed to me like an exercise in an acting class. It feels like a professor took a group of talented actors and gave them this over-the-top 1970's assignment. Everyone gets an "A" because they are that good but it barely felt like a coherent film to me. It's like their assignment included constant references to try and deliver a "Goodfellas" type tone without having a script to back it up. The events of the conclusion were so easy to spot that I'm sure most everyone will see it coming a mile away.

Overall, interesting but there is far less substance than I was expecting. I have to say this was a let down.