Fantastic performances & settings carry an above average narrative

Rating: 9/10 (11 May 2014)

American Hustle is a movie based in the 1970s and is about a real life operation called ABSCAM which took place during the same time period. And just like most films based on real life events this movie does not do everything in accordance to what happened in real life. For instance in the real event Bradley Cooper's character did not play such a role in the operation they were many other feds involved.
Now what this film does is that it tries to be a black comedy while also trying to be a serious movie, for me it actually works, it will make you laugh at several scenes and the serious scenes will make you understand the seriousness off the situation and grasp your attention. The movie started out excellently, with a pretty funny scene between Bale and Cooper arguing and then playing a great song from it's fantastic soundtrack, while rolling the opening credits. The beginning was done so well, that it had me hooked to the rest of film, I probably wouldn't have been interested in the slow back-story scenes that followed, if it wasn't for this great start. After this the film does some comedy scenes, some serious scenes and many songs as a routine while carrying the plot at a very very slow pace. What is a huge negative is that the film moves at an extremely slow pace and this story, which is not that interesting could have been told in a much shorter time. While I was happy with the conclusion, the overall plot/narrative was not that great, its setting, atmosphere and most importantly the performances are what carried this film.
Christian Bale, man I don't know what to say, he is extremely dedicated to any film he is in and any role he plays, he gained over 40 pounds and got a huge tummy for this movie, and this is the same guy who lost over 60 pounds for the Machinist and also lost weight for the fighter. And he is always completely into his characters. His performances in the sequels of Batman films were good but from what i have seen he has done so much better, his fans should do themselves a favor and watch his non Batman films to see how great of an actor he really is. I must say I liked his performance the best out of the cast.
Jennifer Lawrence was fantastic, I haven't seen her Hunger games film but she is extremely charismatic and keeps you interested and keeps you listening and pay attention every time she is on the screen. Amy Adams does a serviceable job, she looks good in this film and her dresses are hot, her acting and dialogs are OK, apart from some scenes where she actually is really good. Her English accent was kind of bad though but maybe that was on purpose. I never considered Bradley a good actor but he kind of impressed with his performance, some people call him a weak link, I think he did a good job, yes he acts all goofy and silly and he acts all naive sometimes, but he is playing a naive power hungry fed anyway. Plus he gives this film a good comic relief believe it or not, his facial expression at the end of the film was just hilarious. Jeremy Renner also did a good job. De Niro's was awesome in his short cameo wish he had a more expanded role. The minor characters did well.
The film does a great job of recapturing the environment of the settings with it's awesome screenplay and setting, clothes, environments, everything is done so well. Apart from the performances I just love, love this film's soundtrack every song fits the scenes and they are all nice to listen, the soundtrack is one of the highlights of this movie, I absolutely loved the songs "The Dirty Work", "Horse With No Name" and "Long Black Road".
Overall I enjoyed the American Hustle, it is a great film in my honest opinion. Does it deserve all the Oscars and praise it has gotten, debatable, but this was an enjoyable film and had the narrative been stronger, shorter and moved at a faster pace, it would have only made this film better than it already is.
Overall Rating: 8.5/10