A convoluted mess. Jolly, but not fun.

Rating: 5/10 (15 January 2014)

In the past few years, David O. Russell found his voice and he's been talking loudly. While The Fighter is a bit too bland for me, despite great supporting turns from Bale and Leo, Silver Linings Playbook was one of the most pleasant surprises of 2012. It was funny, moving and very rewatachable. Despite all its flaws, it felt honest. American Hustle is not honest. It knows it, that's the point. As the opening caption dictates "some of this happened." Sure, that's fine, you can be inspired by true events and pull off a great film, but American Hustle doesn't realise how forced and dishonest it is in its character work. It's been frequently introduced as a story of survival, resilience and reinvention by its creators which is an overblown and pretentious way to approach the film. It could've earned those words by placing their characters in an honest and sympathetic dilemma, but it's simply the character's greed that lead them to this situation. There's not a likable or relatable one in the bunch. Now a film doesn't have to have those aspects, but it needs to feel true to life.
Gathering actors from his previous films with Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence leading the ensemble, it seemed like a reliable bunch at first. They certainly put effort into it too, there's shards of greatness in there sometimes, but unfortunately it's thwarted by the script and editing. Christian Bale feels like a parody of Jake La Motta, a good one though, given that Bale is a fantastic chameleon, but he simply doesn't fit the tone of the rest of the film. It's a different shade of silly. There's times near the end where I felt myself being sympathetic to him, but I swiftly realised it was to Bale and not his character. Amy Adams has the ingredients for a great performance here, but not the recipe. Her accent is poor and her performance feel like they're formed of a series of innocent or overwhelmed glances. It results in embarrassing unintentional comedy. Hopefully she'll get the right role one day. Bradley Cooper is nearly great as a charming and loose fast-talker, but his off-moments are the ones that stand out, especially with a character with such muddled motivation. I think Louis C.K. is the only actor I truly enjoyed watching here.
Critics and award bodies are finding themselves torn between the above 3, but it's Jennifer Lawrence who's garnering all the universal acclaim. Now officially planted at the top of the A- list, it's hard not to think her acclaim just comes from her position. I tried to imagine her as anything but miscast, but this character doesn't feel suited to her. The personality does, but not the character. While she was great at comedy in Silver Linings, the material she's given to work with here really misses the mark. However, she's given two dramatic reflective moments that she nails perfectly and its the highlight of the film. It's a shame that these two tones are so unbalanced. But the film seems to struggle with that in general. It's clear that David O. Russell has simply attempted to build a character with each actor and give them a situation to let them play around with and then shot it. It's a good style, my favourite director Mike Leigh utilizes this and it's what made Silver Linings feel so authentic. But with weak material like this, American Hustle ends up confusing and misguided.
Frankly, I wouldn't be able to tell you what the story was. But Russell doesn't care, he says it's supposed to be about the characters. In the film's first act while it introduces the characters it features voice-over that feels like it was hastily added to clarify stuff the test audiences didn't get. Even so, it doesn't dig into who the character's really are. Instead, we're given a superficial outer layer that thinks its sexier and cooler than it actually is. The only way the film could have achieved tension or laughs is if I was invested in the characters, but there isn't a reason to. Now a film can compensate for the fact that I didn't care by being entertaining, but American Hustle is too convoluted and messy. Perhaps it all hinged on the fact that I was never sold on the film's main plot device in Cooper's deal. Are Bale and Adams really that powerful or seductive? This is a very different and contrived world to the one we live in. And this is a film that tries to hustle its flaws and call it part of its charm. It tries to be full of life, but it lacks sincere heart and soul.
To compensate for the shaky script, American Hustle tries to be as flashy as possible in its design. It abuses punchy cinematography that glides into character's faces without rhyme of reason far too frequently, something that added a key dynamic value to Silver Linings. I'll admit, the costume design is great and stylish even if it clashes against the ugly production design too much. But perhaps that was a deliberate choice to reflect the characters. Fortunately, it has a great soundtrack. If there's any moments in the film that are genuinely cool, it'll be strutting along to these classics. It's a real shame that David O. Russell messed up this film so badly given that I was intrigued in him last year. Heck, last year he would've been my choice from the Oscar nominees for Picture, Director, Screenplay, etc, but that's only because they snubbed the best of the best. Now this will most likely be my least favourite of the bunch. American Hustle is too familiar to really be worth watching and too pretentious to be taken seriously or as something silly. Good thing is was just a mess and not cringeworthy. Everyone on screen is forgiven. Russell though, I don't know.
5/10