American Hustle

David O'Russell's had a busy year; fresh off the success of The Silver Linings Playbook, he's back, reunited with Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, as well as Christian Bale and Amy Adams (from O'Russell's greatest effort, The Fighter). It's a fantastic cast and each member contributes in their own unique way, adding an element to the film, playing off one another with precision, flair, humour and that surreal slice of Scorsese-ism that, ultimately, makes the film something of a success.

Somewhere around the mid-point of the movie, the moment I realised that the director's selection of tunes was stylishly obvious, I made sure to note how surreal the movie truly was. Essentially, it was all a con, it never really happened - nothing was real. Of course, that's one way of looking at it. With a layered story such as this one, who really knows what was going on - Richie (Cooper) didn't seem to have a clue and I guess we've been planted with him for this one. How long were Irving and Sydney plotting all this? Did it come to them late on or was it always in the works? It's never actually answered though there is one scene which seems to point to the former. Either way, you make your own assumptions - this is not a story, it's a character-piece, like most of O'Russell's films, and he'd have it no other way.

That being said, it does meander this way and that for a large portion of the movie - Sydney and Irving are con-artists, taking advantage of a gullible nation that's looking to make a quick buck until, bam, they're caught by FBI Agent, Richie. He claims he'll provide them with leniency if they aid him to catch four other con-artist. That seems like a plot and a direction, yet, all of a sudden, we're introduced to politician Carmine (Jeremy Renner), who may, or may not, be a shady character - again, it's never really clear. He appears on and off throughout the movie as if the plot depends on it but it's never really that vital - it provides Irving with some form of emotional backdrop, though most of that is provided with his unstable wife, Rosalynn (Lawrence).

Perhaps it's a movie that has to be seen twice to be fully appreciated - my viewing seemed all too brief and for much of it, I was viewing it out of necessity as opposed to desire. It may have altered my viewing somewhat but I expected more. It's quite a good time and, as mentioned, the performances are good fun and though the music was painfully obvious and never really in-keeping with the movie, it added to the flippant tone the movie seemed to employ.

For me, this is your average 7/10 movie - it's not something special and won't be the movie O'Russell is remembered for but it follows a collection of offbeat, unique characters and has fun with it. Though, partly based on a real event, you're never so sure if what you see should be taken seriously. These are criminals after all.