One of the best films this year.

Rating: 9/10 (28 December 2013)

David O Russell has once again created a film with fascinating characters who emanate from the darker places within ourselves. They love the ones they shouldn't, they can't control themselves and they think they are cleverer than they really are. All of which leads them down dangerous paths but unlike a lot of characters in film & television today, they do actually learn from their experiences.
The name of the film is an interesting choice also because the whole show is a hustle, each character is trying a con and the society they exist in is a facade. Irving & Sydney are small time fraudsters cheerfully ripping off people who believe $5000 will get them $50000 before they're caught by Richie who uses them to trap corrupt politicians to make a name for himself. Irving's wife Rosalyn uses her son as bait to keep their relationship together and controls her husband with passive aggressive manipulation whenever he comes home.
The only decent characters in the story are Carmine (the target of Richie's sting operation) a politician who is actually doing his very best for the people of his district and Richie's superior Stoddard who's cautious approach and drawn out ice fishing story results in him being ignored, beaten and made fun of by Richie.
The irony in the story (and I do enjoy ironic humour) is Carmine is attempting to get funding from an Arabian sheik to build a casino and create employment for the people of New Jersey so for this to happen other politicians apparently have to be bribed. In reality, the alternative to the sheik building the casino would have been a tax on the people of New Jersey to create a centre for gambling addiction, prostitution and drug trafficking....like I said earlier, the society they live in is a facade.
Thus we have Irving & Sydney doing what they do best, an unwitting Carmine doing what he believes to be best all acting for an overly ambitious Richie who becomes more and more corrupted by his power. Every single actor disappears into their character thanks obviously to the director but also due to the wonderful costumes and hairstyles of the day. Truly the seventies was a dark period for fashion from the hair to the glasses, the paisley shirts, the plunging necklines and the fur coats it is an assault on the optic nerve but this camouflage melts away when the actors are allowed to act. There's some golden comedy thanks mainly to Rosalyn, simmering antagonism between Irving, Sydney and Richie and one of the most tense scenes in years when Victor Tellegio, a Miami mobster meets them to discuss their venture, I was on the edge of my seat.
Everyone did a great job on this one. The costumes as mentioned earlier, the soundtrack is a time machine and the narrative is tight. The characters have depth, emotions and motivations and I really engaged with them from beginning to end. These are real human beings caught in the headlight of an oncoming train and they're doing all they can to get off the tracks.