Great ensemble acting; my kind of film!

Rating: 9/10 (6 March 2016)

I finally got to see the whole film, "American Hustle" (as opposed to the first 1/2 hour on a flight), and thought it was the best new film I've seen in a long time. Based on the true story of the ABSCAM FBI sting of the '70s, the couple Irving (Christian Bale) and Sydney (Amy Adams) tear up the screen with great chemistry, dialogue, and style. 1970s music encompasses the soundtrack and there is some great sophisticated humor to the script.
It was well done how the beginning which is about a con-artist quickly expands into a major FBI operation. Yes, it gets convoluted and some less sharp viewers will definitely be lost, but those who can follow the whole thing will be rewarded. It's such an absurd scenario setting up the fake sheikh, etc. that it's hard to believe it actually happened, but it did. I remember how ABSCAM was on the news all the time, but I as a kid had no idea what it was. This film explains it pretty well, with of course some dramatization. The names are changed, but the characters are real (Irving was Mel Weinberg).
Only issue for me is that they had to do the usual casting cliché, i.e. Robert Deniro as the mobster. Also it's too bad they made Bale actually gain all that weight. Would have been better for him and the film had they not. And there was an issue with the women actors being mistreated and getting lower pay than the men. But that's Hollywood for ya. This didn't win any Academy Awards; I'm not sure who did that year, but don't really care.