American Hustle - Film Review

With award's season looming large on the horizon, it usually means the big hitters anticipated for potential gongs are about to arrive.

Usually, Oscar-nominated films come out in the last few weeks before the awards themselves. This year is little different, with likely front-runner 12 Years A Slave due to be released next week, and potential nominees The Wolf of Wall Street and Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom also due release in January.

Another potential winner is also arriving, with American Hustle now getting a full nationwide release after a partial release in the London West End cinemas just before Christmas.

The hype around this one is at epic proportions. Director David O'Russell's previous projects The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook were Oscar nominees and also included American Hustle cast-members Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence - the latter of whom won an Oscar for her role in SLP.

Certainly, this is enough to create a whirlpool of hype for a film based upon an FBI operation similar to the News of the World's attempts to use a Fake Sheikh.

The real Fake Sheikh-based ABSCAM operation in the late 70s/early 80s saw the FBI use convicted con artists to help them try and ensnare corrupt political figures.

But while the film is loosely based on reality, there is a reason for the line "Some of this actually happened" - although the events depicted had some happenings, they were not quite in the ways this film depicted. Certainly, the figures the characters are based on are not quite as smooth as here.

The story begins with a flash-forward mid-way through the con, to scenes where its going badly, and the first half of the film is more or less a narration of how we reached this moment.

We meet Irving Rosenfeld (Bale), a small business owner and con-man living in New York City in 1978 content to run a variety of scams alongside his dry-cleaning business. This business includes fake art and phony loan agencies, and gives him a reasonable earner.

While at a mob party, he meets Sydney Prosser (Adams), who is a stripper that has conned her way into a job with Cosmopolitan Magazine. They bond, form a relationship and go into a con-business together, where they convince struggling businessmen to give them $5,000 under the pretence they'll give them a loan, before fraudulently running off with said deposit.

They name their business London Associates, for which Sydney puts on a surprisingly convincing faux-British accent and gives herself the name "Lady Edith Greensley", with claims of London banking connections that don't exist.

During this period, Irving and Sydney grow even closer behind the back of Irving's wife Rosalyn (Lawrence). Irving is fearful of Rosalyn for her unpredictable and unstable nature, but is also unwilling to leave her for fear that she will deny him visitation rights for her son, who he adopted.

Irving puts these concerns aside for his business routine, where the partners are attempting to con another businessmen. Unfortunately, Richie diMaso (Bradley Cooper) turns out to be an FBI agent, who arrests Sydney and throws her in jail.

Despite arresting her, Richie is attracted to Sydney - or more rather, her Edith persona given that's all he knows of her - and offers to make her and Irving a deal. They will be granted immunity if they help aid this system with other cons to help bring down corrupt politicians using a Fake Sheikh.

The team decide to turn their attentions to Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner), who is the beloved mayor of Camden, New Jersey, and a state representative of New Jersey. He is also aiming to push for the renovation of Atlantic City through a series of new casinos and hotels.

This is where one of the film's major problems arises. While the real character Carmine is based on was known for a variety of corrupt activities, the film's depiction makes him appear a lot more morally-upstanding - very much a community cornerstone, and one aiming to improve lives for the people of his city. Exactly why he's on suspicion and in trouble with the Feds is not made clear, and it feels bizarrely overlooked.

The man who gets an even shorter stick is Richie's FBI boss Stoddard Thorsen (Louis CK), who opposes the plan and attempts to block the moves. But when Sydney befriends and convinces an FBI secretary (Colleen Camp) to wire the required $2M funding anyway, it leads to FBI Head Anthony Amado (Alessandro Nivola) giving Stoddard credit for a proposal he thought was stupid.

Stoddard's miserable run doesn't end there, with all attempts to block the excess of the scheme overriden seemingly at will, and he even receives a punch in the face later on in the movie from Richie for good measure along the way for trying to keep a lid on it.

Nevertheless, as a result of the initial approval from the top brass, play continues to the point where we entered the room - Carmine has sensed trouble from Richie's eagerness to hand him a briefcase full of monies and has left the room.

Irving runs out to try and convince him that its worth sticking around for and somehow he succeeds, to the point where its arranged for the two and their wives to head out for dinner. But its also where he begins to doubt his motivation for going along with this scam.

Unfortunately for the hopes of a smooth-running operation, this means bringing along Rosalyn, who is only invited to the grand reception after insistence from Carmine. She duly confronts and kisses Sydney, then runs into the arms of a local mobster called Pete (Jack Huston).

Meanwhile, the three amigos put aside their increasingly-difficult love triangle to a meeting with the violent Mafia overlord Victor Tellegio (Robert de Niro). Although bringing a Fake Sheikh (Michael Pena) that knew very little Arabic to a meeting with a one-time Arabian casino director wasn't a great idea, Tellegio nevertheless approves the deals on behalf of even more financial figures.

Not that this helps the operation, which is now reaching sky-high madness and is certainly a questionable use of taxpayer cash.

This has pulled the players in deep. Irving and Sydney attempt to run away but find out legging it will be certain death, while Rosalyn blabs to Pete of Richie's involvement with a federal agency - albeit not the IRS, as she claimed - a scenario that leads to another threat on all their lives.

Stuck in this, a new plan is created that eventually leads to the success snaring of corrupt Congressmen and Senators, albeit at the cost of Irving and Carmine's friendship.

At this point comes the big reveal, and who had the bigger con on who. Its an impressively elaborate manipulation that certainly ties things up and allows the end of the road for all involved.

It also provides another interpretation for a film that, by and large, has one too many tones in its mix. There's comic elements - mostly from CK and Lawrence's characters - alongside more dramatic ones, romantic ones, thriller ones, satirical ones and the con artist touch.

Some reviews have called American Hustle a sort of Goodfellas-lite but its a questionable comparison considering there is not that much violence going on here, and even less mafia satire.

In a way, its a satire of convoluted political operations and the idea of being in too deep with such dumb ideas. But the combination of touches feels like it detracts from the overall plot.

In promotional interviews, Christian Bale has said that most of his lines with his co-stars were improvised because O'Russell wanted it to be more on characters than plot. While its a testament to Bale's activity that he does come across very well, it also acts as a weakness because it complicates the moods and tones of the film's lines at the expense of moving things along.

As for the Oscars next month, the thing most worthy of recognition at next month's Academy Awards is the hair. There's scenes featuring Adams and Cooper with reams and reams of hair curlers - Cooper's certainly provoked a few laughs. But the big hair star is certainly Renner's impressive quiff and the blonde hair-mountain that Lawrence supports.

It fits in as much with this aesthetic that the first shot of this movie sees Bale applying a quiff and burying it in a hugely unconvincing combover. Certainly, its a bizarre touch to have seen Bale go from the suave and trim Bruce Wayne to fat conman in dodgy suits, and all in a year and a half.

The costumes are an odd choice as well, not least for Adams, who has an entire wardrobe of figure hugging dresses that leave very little to the imagination. Nevertheless, her performance is among the ensemble's best of the lot, and she certainly does her bit in aiding the film's progression.

The performances are impressive and this part of the movie convinces, but if they had something cohesive to hang of, then this could be a lot closer to justifying the hype and recognition falling its way. It almost feels like these are good performances in spite of the movie as much as anything.

This isn't film of the year material and its certainly not 100% all that it could be. Nevertheless, the performances are enough to justify going through the doors and if you go, its worth enjoying the ride.

3.5/5