Christian Bale

Bradley Cooper

Amy Adams

Jeremy Renner

Jennifer Lawrence

Louis C.K.

Jack Huston

Michael Peña

Shea Whigham

Alessandro Nivola

Elisabeth Röhm

Paul Herman

Saïd Taghmaoui

Matthew Russell

Thomas Matthews

Adrian Martinez

Anthony Zerbe

Colleen Camp

Steve Gagliastro

Christopher Tarjan

Zachariah Supka

Christy Scott Cashman

Simon Hamlin

Martie Barylick

Dawn Olivieri

Becki Dennis

Jay Giannone

Arthur Birnbaum

Rob DiNinni

Michael Fennimore

Jack Jones

Danny Corbo

Sonny Corbo

Bo Cleary

Greg Maxwell

Mickey O'Keefe

Aaron Flanders

Erica McDermott

Alura Carbrey

Kayla Feeney

Shannon Halliday

Volieda Webb

Patsy Meck

Abby Lavin

Damien Di Paola

Paul Campbell

Jeff Avigian

Stacy Hock

Michael Trigg

Richard Heneks

Ted Zalewski

Elias Birnbaum

Armen Garo

Sal DiMino

Gary Craig

Barry Primus

Sonny Gordon

Deva Mahal

Dicky Eklund Jr.

Sean Eklund

Charley Broderick

Richard Donelly

Gary Zahakos

Frank Geraci

Melson Alford

Melissa McMeekin

J.J. Wright

Bob Taraschi

Tiffany Crosby

Robert De Niro

Mary Hronicek

Michael Maggiani

Susan Garfield

Samantha MacIvor

David O. Russell

Megan Ellison

Charles Roven

Richard Suckle

George Parra

Linus Sandgren

Jonathan Gordon

Eric Warren Singer

Matthew Budman

Judy Becker

Jay Cassidy

Crispin Struthers

Alan Baumgarten

Michael Wilkinson

Mary Vernieu

Lindsay Graham Ahanonu

Danny Elfman

Jesse Rosenthal

Susan Jacobs

Mark Kamine

Andy Horwitz

Shea Kammer

Michele Ziegler

Xanthus Valan

Mandy Moore

Ben Hernandez Bray

Frank Torres

Geoffrey Haley

Gregory Lundsgaard

Gregory Irwin

Jorge Sánchez

Tulio Dueñas

Randy Stone

David Parson

Zack Shultz

Betsy Alton

Tom Williams

Joel Reidy

Patrick Murray

Tony Cady

Tony Campenni

Woody Bell

Thomas Doran

Jason Fesel

David Velasco

Daniel Fisher

John Ruggieri

Lori McCoy-Bell

François Duhamel

Tim Pedegana

Mike Azevedo

John Ross

Myron Nettinga

Robert Hackl

Sean Devereaux

Heather Loeffler

Evelyne Noraz

Janeen Schreyer

Trish Seeney

Debbie Holbrook

Beau Desmond

Tracy Scott

Marc Dominic Rienzo

Yvan Lucas

Kathrine Gordon

Drama

Crime

American Hustle

Annapurna Pictures

Atlas Entertainment

United States of America

American Hustle is has a heavy dose of Scorsese circa 1970s with the violence replaced more by black humour.

Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Jennifer Lawrence, Jeremy Renner and Bradley Cooper all deliver excellent performances. Robert De Niro makes a cameo and reminds the audience why he was at one time the best screen actor in the world.

This is a black comedy-drama set in the late 1970's based on the true life Abscam scandal. FBI agents and con artists joined up to frame politicians for taking bribes.

Bale plays a pot bellied hustler with bad hair. Amy Adams is his partner in crime who passes off as an English Aristocrat. Both have struck it rich in a scam where they dupe arrangement fees for loans that never come to fruition.

Cooper is the ambitious FBI agent with a big ego who has the the mafia in his sights and wants to reel in a big catch but he might be out of his depth.

Jeremy Renner is the charismatic Mayor of New Jersey. A man with a big heart who wants to get things done and Bale feels guilty about getting him involved in the sting operation.

Director David O Russell gets great performances from his cast but the film feels flabby which blunts the story and the humour feels stretched at times.

A very well acted, directed, filmed movie telling an interesting story about terrible terrible people. I didn't like and couldn't root for anyone which /almost/ made me hate the film, but it was so well done and the story was interesting...so 4 stars.

CinemaSerf

Christian Bale has always been prepared to go the extra mile for his art, but I am not sure it was worth it for this rather lengthy and messy crime caper. He portrays con-man "Irving" who works a series of scams with his glamorous British partner "Sydney" (Amy Adams). They are quite successful, until - that is - they fall foul of aspiring FBI investigator "DiMaso" (Bradley Cooper) who decides he can use their skills to infiltrate the murky world the Mafia. Add to this potentially toxic scenario the politically savvy and aptly named "Polito" (Jeremy Renner) and the omni-presence of "Rosalyn" (Jennifer Lawrence) who just happens to be the wife of "Irving" and who is none too pleased about her husband's antics with his new colleague. What ensues here now is a clunkily thrown together series of escapades that all hang on certain aspects of the story and characterisations that just don't really work. The attempts at humour miss much more than they hit; the faux-gangster plot falls flat and lacks grit or plausibility and Adams' British accent (and therefore her identity) is all over the place - I doubt it would convince even Dick van Dyke let along the FBI! The attempts at building an intricate domino-style plot where it could all come a-tumbling down at any time are too contrived, and that jeopardy presents it's self once too often and with ever diminishing effect as the story rather lurches along to it's almost slap-stick denouement. Though it features an A-list cast, there is not much chemistry on display for us here and the whole thing just takes far, far, too long to get up any head of steam. It does look good, and the soundtrack offers an enjoyably eclectic mix of songs, but I just wasn't sold on the very wordy suckering and scheming, sorry.

American Hustle

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