And the Oscar goes to...cleavage

Rating: 7/10 (8 February 2014)

It would be unfair that the only reason for so many Oscar nominations for this movie are the cleavages and the mere names of the cast. This movie is very watchable, good fun and gives you a thought or two. But not much more than that.
It's the classic switcheroo – con artists get conned and then manage to up-con their rivals. Even though the movie is based on real events, there's not too much else to say about the plot. The cast however deserves a mention and Christian Bale in yet another of his body transformations is definitely the lead man. He does a good job and gives his character depth, even makes us feel for the guy. For a man so inclined to overacting, he's quite subdued.
But Bradley Cooper makes up for that: he's the overacting throughout the movie and succeeds in making the FBI agent the sleaziest character in a movie about con artists, politicians and mobsters. Quite an achievement, really.
Amy Adams' character motivation seems to have been: cleavage. I'm aware it's in line with the character, with the character's line of work where showing skin is meant to put off the guy on the other side of the table, but I can't shake the feeling it somehow took away from arguably the most interesting, the most layered character in the movie.
Jennifer Lawrence is on the other hand the most annoying character and I guess that's an indicator she did a good job – but definitely not award material. Louis CK was brilliant, who would've thought he can actually act? De Niro plays a mobster, which means he was good.
Jeremy Renner deserves a mention. Very convincing performance of the loser in the bunch, a sincere character who navigates through this story about the shades of grey.
That's actually what the movie is about: it's another confirmation that the world is just shade upon shade upon shade of grey, and there's much more than fifty of them. David O. Russell conveys it in a light-hearted way, with nice period costumes and a great soundtrack, and, it gives you a thought or two, but not much more.
Is this Oscar material? No way. Is it good Hollywood fun and should you watch it? Absolutely. I'm being benevolent and giving it a 7 even though it more deserves a 6.5, but definitely not a 6, though.