Very good once it gets it's feet on the ground

Rating: 10/10 (24 January 2015)

American Hustle 7.5/10- I will start this off by saying that I am a huge fan of David O'Russell, Bradley Cooper, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, and Jennifer Lawrence. It is an understatement to say that I hold David O'Russell's directing and his screen writing at the highest regard. American Hustle cons its way into making a near-masterpiece of film making.
When I saw the previews for American Hustle, I read that American Hustle is loosely based on the 1978 ABSCAM scandal. I would explain what that is, but I do not want to ruin the movie for you. What I will say is, American Hustle gives a completely new view point on the FBI and how they do things. As said in the movie, the world is not black and white, it is gray. Now, none of the depiction of the ABSCAM scandal would be believable it was not for the great costume design. Bradley Cooper's curly hair looked hilariously superb, but Christian Bales comb over looked fantastic. The costume design department obviously knew what they were doing when they made these risky moves that more than paid off.
It is impossible for me to describe how great the screenplay was. The movie has a lot of ground to cover in a short two hours and five minutes. American Hustle moves at an electrifying pace that informs everyone on the background of all the people involved. The movie is a shoe-in to be at the very least nominated for an Oscar in the screen writing department. Now, a great movie is nothing without great acting. The acting ensemble that American Hustle gathered from all of his previous movies and a few new members was perfect. A lot of credit goes to both David O'Russell and the casting department.
When it comes to the acting, I do think everyone in the audience would agree that it was top-notch. Amy Adams, who plays Sydney Prosser, continues to deliver these amazing performances where she is sure to get a best actress in leading role nomination. Amy Adams plays the con-artist partner duo alongside Christian Bale. Christian Bale, who plays Irving Rosenfeld, amazes the audiences by his ability to commit to a role. Not many actors in Hollywood would be willing to give up a six-pack and gain forty pounds and have a comb-over for one movie role. This is what makes Christian Bale stand out. He can play any kind of character. He obviously did his homework for the role because he demonstrated his knowledge of the con game as the character that Bale plays is revered as one of the best con-artists of the 20th century. The Christian Bale-Amy Adams duo worked out well together and they showed good chemistry together. The characters they play, Irving Rosenfeld and Sydney Prosser go into the con-game together and are eventually forced to work with the hot-headed wild FBI agent Richie DiMaso. Bradley Cooper, who plays Richie DiMaso, gave a career best performance. He does not play very many characters that are arrogant and selfish, but no one in the audience would even guess that. Bradley Cooper also must have done his homework as he is being taught the con game by Irving Rosenfeld in American Hustle. Jennifer Lawrence will no doubt be nominated for best supporting Actress and I think she has a good shot at winning. Jennifer Lawrence plays Irving Rosenfeld's wife Rosalyn Rosenfeld. She has played this type of character before unlike the rest of the cast as she plays the loose cannon that can blow up the whole con whenever she becomes upset. Just like in Silver Linings Playbook, Lawrence plays someone who clearly has mental problems and her performance is so believable that some people guess if she actually has any mental issues. That is of course NOT true, she is just a normal nice cool young adult who deserves to be biggest in demand actress in Hollywood. But, that is neither here nor there.
Last year, Silver Linings Playbook was the first movie to be nominated for an Oscar in all four acting categories. I think American Hustle has a legitimate chance at doing what Silver Linings Playbook did. It is just one of those movies that makes you love every single character despite all of their flaws and you kind of end up rooting for all of them
All in all, American Hustle deserves all of the great reviews it has gotten. You do not even need to like any of the actors to love American and I would recommend this movie to anyone thats wants to see one of the best films of the year.
For more of my reviews, go to my website at reviewsbywest.com