This film is a story about a man named Irving Rosenfeld who wanted more out of his mundane sub-urban life. He was a con artist who was madly in-love with another con-artist Sydney Prosser yet stuck in a loveless marriage to one unpredictable wife Rosalyn. To cut the story short, Irving and Sydney got caught in their money-lending scam, were hired by an FBI agent named Richie to smoke out the bigger players and got out of their backdoor deals clean and unscathed. Kind of romantic and perfect, isn't it?
True to the actors' delivery and performance, American Hustle was indeed a great film. There were several key scenes where each character was able to show their own reality into the story - not just the main characters. Cooper (who played Richie) was incredibly funny and at the same time surprisingly menacing during that phone call in Adams' (who played Sydney) apartment. He was just the right scary villainous creep that the character sort-of was. Adams was perfectly stunning when she delivered her lines during the living room scene when she had a confrontation with Bale (who played Irving) about his priorities in life. And Lawrence took the cake with her bathroom scene with Adam's when she appeared to be strong and vindictive one second and vulnerable and forlorn the next. The kiss on the lips, the smeared lipstick and the look on Adam's face was just perfect. The minor characters also did a great performance. Richie's immediate supervisor was delightful when he first told Richie about the fishing hole story. He was trying to be fatherly but ended up eating his own words when Cooper cut him by trying to end his story. The mayor's wife was also very noticeable even if she was only on screen for about a few minutes. She worked her way out by portraying this charming yet daring sophisticated woman who stood by her husband's side no matter what. And let's not forget DeNiro. Just the mere presence of him in the scene already sends a message of danger and apathy. No words needed. It was such a great ensemble that all I could say was kudos.
But to every pro, there is a con. What really distracted me during the entire film was how the film was chopped. There were some scenes that were sloppily made. The story is not unique but at least make it clean. There were some scenes that they prolonged too much that I did not get the point to prolonging them like the scene where Cooper was making fun of his immediate supervisor or where Renner (who played Carmine the Mayor) just kept on pacing in his house after hearing about Irving's treachery. There were these prolonged instances that worked in some scenes but in so many others, it just did not. There where also some angles that worked for certain scenarios like when a camera is trying to micro-focus on something, the camera should not be shaky. It does not add to the effect of the terror the character is feeling. It just damages the viewers' eyesight.
However, all in all, I genuinely enjoyed this movie. Most of the actors in this film are just a few of my favorites. The script was perfectly raw and well-written. I just hoped the directing and the editing was much better. I mean I am no expert but observations are observations and these are just a few of what I saw. I hope Russel makes more movies but I dare him not to select good actors. This way he'll be able to focus of the scene as a whole and pay attention on the way he directs. And who knows? He might just get better. I'm just saying...
