I couldn't find anyone to root for or even care for. A big disappointment especially with this cast. Not best picture worthy

Rating: 5/10 (5 February 2014)

"The art of survival is a story that never ends." Irving Rosenfeld (Bale) is a con-man who works low level scams but makes a killing. One night at a party he meets a woman named Sydney Prosser (Adams) and his life is changed. He not only finds a new lover but also a new partner. When she sets up a deal that goes bad they are forced to work for the FBI or spend their lives in jail. The opening of the movie states that "some of this actually happened" so this isn't really a true story just as a heads up. I wanted to see this movie for one reason...the cast. The cast in this is amazing and how can a movie with this cast be bad? The answer to that slowly revealed itself as I watched. It boiled down to the fact that none of the characters were really like-able at all and because of that I felt no connection to any of them. The cardinal sin for any movie is for the watcher not to be involved in the characters lives, if you don't care about them then it doesn't matter what happens in the movie. That is how I felt watching this. Bale did a great job in this but I found it really hard to get into the movie and couldn't find anyone to root for or even care for. That fact alone brought down the enjoyment of the movie and when it ended I was very disappointed by what I saw. Overall, a big disappointment, especially with this cast. Not worthy of the best picture nomination at all. I disappointingly give this a B-.