Great performances, good characters, mediocre plot

Rating: 7/10 (2 February 2014)

The main cast consisting of Academy Awars / Golden Globe nominees and winners, characters and events based on real cases, thrill via FBI and crossing / double-crossing - all this should be the basis for a gripping movie where time flies and you won't notice the length. Unfortunately, as for American Hustle, it does not fully apply. True, performances are catchy - particularly Christian Bale as Irving Rosenfeld, Bradley Cooper as FBI Agent Richard "Richie" DiMaso, Amy Adams as Sydney Prosser / Lady Edith Greensly, Jennifer Lawrence as Rosalyn Rosenfeld, Robert De Niro (uncredited) as Victor Tellegio - characters have comical behaviors and lines, but the plot is uneven at times, the thrill fades away, and several activity lines do not provide additional value to the whole story, contributing the length only. The solution is plain, the main twist is dissolved in real outcomes of exposing corruption.
Well, if we take some other movies nominated for 10 Academy Awards: Cabaret, The Godfather, Network, Tootsie, Star Wars, Braveheart, Slumdog Millonaire... Can American Hustle be compared with them? I am afraid not. It is an okay movie, but not conceptional.