Worth A Watch? Absolutely. Best Film of the Year? Nope.

Rating: Null/10 (15 January 2014)

Some hustle for respect. Some hustle for love. Others hustle for truth. But we all hustle to survive. American Hustle was one of the most anticipated films of the year & even though it turned to be a very well made crime drama, I really doubt if it's a great one. It had all the ingredients & potential to become the best film of 2013 but in the end, it still felt short of complete on the satisfaction level for me & was definitely missing something, probably a more tightly structured plot.
David O. Russell is one of those directors whose number one priority while making a film isn't the film's plot or its progression but the intricate study of its characters. The screenplay makes brilliant use of humour, the character arc is nicely developed and the film is greatly helped by its cinematography & more so by costumes & hairstyles to create that 1970s ambiance. And when it comes to casting, American Hustle boasts a cast that's far more star-studded than what any other film of its year had to offer.
Christian Bale looks immensely convincing here as the con man Irvin Rosenfeld with that slouch posture, combover & huge tummy but in the end, it wasn't him who was the best thing in the film. Bradley Cooper is steadily turning out to be a rising star. And Jeremy Renner plays his part well. But this time, it's the ladies who stole the show. Amy Adams gives a strong & enthralling performance here but even she is overshadowed by the new tour-de-force in cinema today, Jennifer Lawrence. The part played by Lawrence here is so spectacular that it might bag her another Oscar this upcoming season & in case it does, it's a well deserved one.
On an overall scale, American Hustle may not have lived up to my expectations from it, due to the script's inconsistencies & minor flaws, but thanks to David O. Russell's kinetic direction, its finely developed characters, superb use of sly humour & its star-studded cast's exuberant performances, it is nonetheless an incredibly entertaining motion picture that lives up to most of its hype, if not all, and is fine enough to satisfy majority of its viewers. Worth a watch? Absolutely. Best film of the year? Nope.
Full review at: cinemaclown.wordpress.com