I love the 70’s. I love the hair, I love the cars, and I absolutely adore the music (Solo Frank Zappa to be precise).  It’s for this reason that I really enjoyed David O. Russel’s new film “American Hustle”, because it shares the same love for the 70’s as I do. From a visual point of view, the film is a powerhouse, with extreme care being taken to portray the 70’s as realistically as possible. Everything from the clothes, to the hair, to Christian Bale’s entire look, including his extremely elaborate comb-over, seems to have been meticulously planned and done with a lot of passion. It’s a shame that not every aspect of the film is done this well.
Where the film really suffers is in the plot. What had the potential to be an original take on the caper concept turns into a rehashing of the same con we’ve seen in film after film. With a little bit more care the film could have become the next “Ocean’s 11”, but sadly, the plot stays in safe territory, which is a shame considering what it was attempting. The film could have been a serious analysis on exactly who was being “Hustled” in a sense, and earlier on, the film does attempt to pit the characters against each other. In the beginning, we’re put in the middle of the story, and given no information on the situation. We’re shown the tension between the characters, especially between the Con-Artist Irving (a wonderful performance by Christian Bale) and a young, tenacious FBI agent Ritchie (played by Bradley Cooper), and this creates a very interesting drama between these two characters. Unfortunately, the film relegates the tension to a mere lovers feud, with both men competing for the affections of Irving’s (Christian Bale’s) mistress Sydney (Amy Adams).
The film focuses on the relationships between the characters instead of the story most of the time, with only one of them being even remotely interesting. The friendship that develops between Irving and Camden, New Jersey mayor Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner) is one of the better executed and more interesting points of the film. We see a sense of vulnerability start to develop in Irving’s character as he get’s closer with Polito, and it’s a shame this is relegated to a small sideline in the film, which focuses more on Irving’s relationship with his wife (Jennifer Lawrence) and his mistress.
The story is interesting, but quite basic. My problem wasn’t with the scam in itself, which was quite interesting to watch, but more the ending. The film’s climax seems so self serving, and it basically abandons the moral arguments it was trying to build the entire time. i won’t spoil it for you, but judging by how average it is, I probably don’t have to. Overall, it’s an interesting film with great visuals and a great concept, but it ultimately fails to deliver on it’s promise and it’s premise. Don’t go in expecting “The Sting”; you won’t get it.