Style Over Substance

Rating: 5/10 (1 February 2014)

So Jennifer Lawrence's character blows up a microwave and comically cleans the house whilst singing 'Live and Let Die'. So Christian Bale's character has an intricate comb-over that takes several minutes to perfect, only to have it messed up not five minutes later. So Bradley Cooper's character wears curlers to create the illusion that he's a curly-haired Italian bad-ass.
These are all moments people keep referring to when they talk about David O. Russel's American Hustle. It's as if they are rooting for something that will back up the brilliant acting on display. Yes they are funny, but they feel deliberate. They don't really serve any contribution to the narrative, they're just sequences Russel has included to distract you from the lack of things happening in this film. I've seen a lot of reviews on this film, and one common complaint is that the film has a sloppy plot, but critics are always quick to defend it because something else is more important in the film, whether that be brilliant acting or the vibrance of the film.
The film is indeed vibrant: the costumes are wickedly fun and dazzling, and each scene is bright and inviting. There are funny scenes. There are countless moments of honesty and realism from all the members of the cast, particularly Bale, who stars as a con-man who is forced to work with an FBI agent to sting corrupt politicians.
This is the problem, though. There's too many elements that are intentional and deliberate, and you feel that. Russel has never been one to be subtle, but here he is in full-swing. Fancy hair and costumes? A classic 70's soundtrack? Bright disco lights? A scene about a science oven that blows up? A scene where a fully grown man wears curlers? A whole two-minute sequence dedicated to someones comb-over? These are all things that help build the characters, and the characters are fascinating, but they have nowhere to go in this film. They wonder aimlessly through each un-necessarily-long scene trying to pull the plot to it's conclusion. They are just ploys by Russel to draw the viewer in and make them feel obligated to follow their stories, when in reality, they don't really have much of a story, and if they do, it hasn't been represented in the right manner at all by Russel and his team.
Perhaps the scene that speaks most about how this film is a con-job to make you think you're watching a really entertaining film comes about three-quarters of the way through the film: we are introduced to a gangster played by none other than Robert De Niro. I know Russel and De Niro have worked together before, but his inclusion in the film was purely tactical. Here's why: we're introduced to him as a fearsome, brutal gangster as he shoots a man in cold blood and precedes to spit on him. This gives us the impression that the action is about to begin, only to be disappointed by a seemingly endless scene where De Niro and a group of his colleagues, and Bale and Coopers characters all sit around a table and, through even more dialogue, try to add some more layers to a film with not much to it. It's a boring scene, and a waste of a truly great legend like De Niro. Opening that sequence with De Niro being a bad-ass killer instantly attracts our attention because we all love De Niro in bad-ass mode, but it isn't long before you realize you've ben blinded by a 10-second scene and discover nothing is going to happen.
That is the story of this film: Style Over Subtstance.