"Times are hard/You're afraid to pay the fee/So you find yourself somebody/Who can do the job for free"

Rating: 9/10 (14 April 2014)

At first, I thought the critics had gone a bit overboard for this one, with all their talk of Scorsese and screwball comedy greats like Howard Hawks, but after I'd watched it (twice), I was totally won over. The screenplay cuts a few corners, and Russell like to keep things in flux, with the result that the complex plot can be mystifying at times. That's about it for the negatives. Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence play very much the same characters that they did in "Silver Linings Playbook"—the manic motormouth and the neurotic know-it-all—but a bulked-up Christian Bale and Amy Adams take things to a much higher level as the two lovestruck grifters, Irving and Sydney. The dialogue is sharp and convincing, and despite Russell's fondness for improv and spontaneity, he keeps the pacing very tight and wisely saves the best plot twist for last. In contrast to "Silver Linings," this time he ties things up beautifully in the closing scenes. Other highlights: The wordless opening shot, with Irving arranging his triple-decker combover, gets your attention right away, and JLaw can really sling that 70s psychobabble. Great supporting cast, especially Jeremy Renner as a populist Jersey pol; Elisabeth Röhm, as his wife, does a lot with just a few of lines of dialogue and some eye-catching underwear.