American Hustle

We weren’t wrong about David O. Russel the first time. American Hustle wants to be a refreshing, engaging and vibrant gangster movie and manages it quite well. At times, it tries too hard, especially with the at times surprisingly and intentionally weird behaviour of some of the characters, but it never gets to the point of bothering me. The performances are superb without exception. It’s delivered as a comedy and I take it as such. This time Russel doesn’t try to unsuccessfully portray romantic relationships or social conflicts, which I take it as a plus. For me, good fun and satisfaction. (01/05/2014)

I feel cheated. The film lured me in by assembling some of my favorite actors. I watched more than two hours of a boring attempt at Ocean's Eleven from the 70s. The intention of the filmmakers fell completely flat, I was bored. Plus, it was obvious from the start how the whole spectacle would turn out. I’m giving two stars for Christian Bale's comb-over and Bradley Cooper's hair curlers. (01/01/2017)

The nominations are understandable, but I wouldn't feel like watching it again, and if I did, it would only be because of a few scenes that are worth it mainly thanks to the fantastic performances, the great aesthetics, the costumes, and the uplifting music hits from the 1970s. But it is finely tuned and woe to the viewer who pays attention to the sophisticated character motivations and the great psychology will be satisfied, though not amazed. It's too slow and uneven with countless dull and unnecessary moments, where all that's left is to indulge in the superb visuals, which is not quite okay in a dialogue-driven film. (06/26/2014)

O. Russell annoys me immensely. His films are reminiscent of a showcase of clichés and conventions, and if all this worked well in Fighter, it changed from Silver Linings Playbook to empty glitz covered with an imitation of "something more". However, his mannerist preference for certain techniques and compositions is not even "nicely cheesy" and cool (exciting), but simply emptily self-serving. Completely in line with the never-ending "just enough so that you can't see much" show of Amy Adams's cleavage, which instead of excitement arouses, after a while, an inquisitive feeling about whether she is supposed to attract attention or distract the viewer. An absurdly rich selection of period hits, a showcase of idiotic hairstyles, dysfunctional parallel storylines and narrator voices, carried by Bale, who is already starting to forget that acting means more than periodically gaining and dropping 50 kilos. After The Wolf of Wall Street, this artificial attempt at an epic of deception and hypocrisy, folded into a would-be brazen and contemplative whole, feels even more unappealing. And the last Marty didn't get under my skin much. But at least I still have enough sense to recognize a hoax from the original. [50%] (01/22/2014)

A retro farce with great costumes that nonetheless unfolds at a sluggish pace and is full of actors showing off unnecessarily. I consider American Hustle far from masterfully directed. On the contrary, at such a slow pace, it is striking that the ambitious plot disintegrates in the tangle of character motivations that got out of hand. But would you do any better if there was a scantily clad Amy Adams prancing around your set? The acting performances are fantastic, however. Christian Bale tries hard, but Jennifer Lawrence turns in the best performance here. Amy Adams is super-hot (let’s be honest – would you be able to restrain yourself in the bathroom scene?) and the icing on the cake is the unexpected Mr. “XY” from Miami in the best mafia role in recent memory. With his appearance, the pace picks up a little. The nomination for best film and director was probably secured by Bale’s necklace. (01/27/2014)