David O. Russell explores Scorsese territory

Rating: 7/10 (12 December 2015)

David O. Russell followed up his brilliant Silver Linings Playbook with a somewhat effective excursion into Scorsese territory called American Hustle, an explosive and elaborately mounted period piece that takes a bitingly accurate look at the hedonistic 1970's and the art of the con, seen primarily through the actions of three characters that is allegedly fact-based. We are told at the beginning of the film that "Some of this actually happened," whatever that means.
The main players here are Irving Rosenfeld, the owner of a string of dry cleaners who begins a very profitable confidence scheme with Sydney Prosser, a sexy and smart hustler who not only knows how to watch the bottom line, but how to manipulate it in her favor. Irving and Sidney's increasingly cushy existence is stalled by one Richie Di Masso, a smart-ass FBI agent who offers Irving and Sidney immunity in exchange for their help in aiding him to nail some much bigger fish, as well as lining his own pockets.
Other key players on this complex but fascinating canvas include Irving's wife, Roselyn, a not as dumb as she appears housewife and mother, who refuses to be seen and not heard and is not above using Irving's son as leverage against him; Carmine Polito, the mayor of Camden, New Jersey, Stoddard Thorsen, Richie's boss, and a phony Arab sheik.
Russell has undertaken one of his largest stories that is on the surface a look at the greed and hedonism of the 1970's but does whittle its way down to an intense look at mob and political corruption, keeping the involvement of actual mobsters and politicians to a minimum and the complicated triangle formed by the trio of central characters, anchored by a dizzying monitoring of Sydney'as loyalties, which is the apex of the triangle primarily because Sydney really is the smartest character in the movie. Unfortunately, the film does lose a few points in the originality department, as images of Scorsese work like Goodfellas and Casino leap to mind, minus a lot of the in your face violence we get from Scorsese.
The performances are, for the most part, first rate. Christian Bale, cinema's second greatest chameleon behind Jared Leto, undergoes a remarkable physical transformation to bring the slick yet pathetic Rosenfeld to life, though he really just seems to be sort of channeling Robert De Niro. Amy Adams turns in the performance of her career as Sydney, a rich performance that effectively nails the character's intelligence and vulnerability. Bradley Cooper scores with his slick FBI agent too, though I think he was better in Silver Linings Playbook. Jennifer Lawrence offers another explosive performance as Roselyn that rivals her Tiffany in Silver Linings and Jeremy Renner is an eye opener as Mayor Carmine.
As with most of his work, Russell's direction trumps his writing, which, as always tries to encompass a little too much, but most of the film's running time is legitimized. Russell, Bale, Adams, Cooper, and Lawrence were all nominated for Oscars and I think Adams should have won, an actress I once thought of as a one-trick pony who has proved to be anything but. The film also boasts a kick-ass song score of some of the greatest music from the late 70's early 80's. Russell makes a mighty big leap into Scorsese territory here and though not completely successful, has mounted a watchable film that sustains interest for most of its running time.