MOVI ES
BY RICK LEVIN
DO THE HUSTLE
American Hustle is a shiny collection of caper and
romance twinkling with shining performances
AMERICAN HUSTLE: Directed by David O. Russell. Screenplay by
Russell and Eric Singer. Cinematography, Linus Sandgren. Editing, Alan
Baumgarten, Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers. Music, Danny Elfman. Starring
Amy Adams, Christian Bale, Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, Jeremy
Renner, Louis C.K. Columbia Pictures, 2013. R. 138 minutes. 00002
D
avid O. Russell’s new film, American Hustle,
is a shaggy, shambolic love story masquerading
as a period crime drama. Loosely based on the
ABSCAM operation of the late 1970s, the
movie follows the exploits of a pair of
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charming con artists, Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale)
and Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams), who end up getting
popped by an ambitious FBI agent, Richie DiMaso
(Bradley Cooper), and thereby enlisted in a sting that
seeks to bring down, among others, Carmine Polito
(Jeremy Renner), the mayor of Camden, N.J.
Russell, who hit big with 2012’s Silver Linings
Playbook, weaves into this story of greed, corruption and
double-crossing an epic meditation on the devious ways of
the human heart and the lengths to which we go to get
what we want — or what we think we want. Like Martin
Scorsese’s classic gangster drama Goodfellas, American
Hustle in the end becomes less about the intricate workings
of crime and more about the wages of desire.
Every character in this film is on the make, and it’s a
testament to Russell’s artistry that we are allowed glimpses
beyond the con everyone is running — through the fragile
cracks in the various complex facades. American Hustle is
at its best when things fall apart: Bale, overweight and
suffering a bad ticker, hanging his head in abject defeat;
Adams confessing to Cooper that she’s been stringing him
along; Jennifer Lawrence, as Rosenfeld’s loose cannon of
a wife, hiding in a corner to sob on the shoulder of a
stranger. These are the moments that disclose the humanity
hiding in the malaise of narcissism and self-deception.
Russell is a gutsy director who isn’t afraid to reach for
epic greatness, and in the hands of a less ballsy artist
American Hustle might have come across as merely
derivative and over-determined. At times it walks that line,
especially in its reliance on a blueprint laid down by
Scorsese and picked up by directors like Paul Thomas
Anderson in Boogie Nights: the amniotic creation of the
decadent decade of the ’70s, especially in the choice of
soundtrack; the slow-mo, iconic saunter of characters
closing in on a heist; the ragtag storytelling, with voiced-
over flashbacks and temporal jump-cuts.
But Russell, through the sheer exuberance of his vision,
makes it all work, and he is helped along here by a
uniformly stellar cast. Adams and Bale, as star-crossed
grifters, give the performances of their careers so far.
Cooper continues to leap outside every box Hollywood
draws around him, and Renner gives a touching turn as a
good politician trapped in a shitty situation. Lawrence, as
usual, is magnificent. American Hustle might not be
Russell’s masterpiece, but it is one of the strongest movies
of the year. ■
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THUR JAN 2 - WED JAN 8
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PHILOMENA (PG-13) starring Dame Judi Dench
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NEBRASKA (R)
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KICK ASS 2
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PRISONERS
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First National Taphouse presents
Bijou Metro Classic Series:
Billy Wilder's THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH (1955)
Monday night screening hosted by Tom Blank
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MS. 45 (1981) restored and uncut
9:30
12 YEARS A SLAVE (R)
Golden Globe nominee
2:10
GRAVITY (PG-13)
Golden Globe nominee
12:00, 7:30
ALL IS LOST (PG-13)
Golden Globe nominee
12:15, 5:35
THE GREAT BEAUTY (LA GRANDE BELLEZZA)
Golden Globe Nominee
2:35, 8:00
THE HUNT (R)
Golden Globe Nominee
THE PUNK SINGER
THE ARMSTRONG LIE (R)
WADJDA (PG)
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BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR (NC-17)
Golden Globe Nominee
4:45
BLUE JASMINE (PG-13)
Golden Globe nominee
2:30
The Perfect Match:
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