American HUSTLE (David O. Russell, 2013) ***

Rating: 7/10 (2 March 2014)

As it turned out, I left for last in this year's Oscar race the two best movies – the other being Martin Scorsese's THE WOLF OF WALL STREET – even if that still does not make them masterpieces in my book! Interestingly enough, this is very much styled like a Scorsese picture – and, if one had any doubt for a second about this, a surprise cameo toward the film's last third cements that fact unreservedly! Director Russell has consistently proved himself a deft co-ordinator of ensemble pieces (back from the time of THREE KINGS {1999} and I HEART HUCKABEES {2004}), but especially with his impressive last trio of "Oscar bait" efforts – namely THE FIGHTER (2010), SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK (2012) and, of course, the title under review.
With respect to American HUSTLE, this latter element emerges as both its strength and drawback: it obviously creates some well-defined characters for the talented actors to sink their teeth into but, at the same time, it necessitates that they often take a back seat in order to allow the others to shine or for the complex plot to unravel; this suggests that, in spite of having four nominations in the acting categories (Best Actor Christian Bale, Actress Amy Adams, Supporting Actor Bradley Cooper and Supporting Actress Jennifer Lawrence – it is worth noting, and that in itself is no mean feat, that Bale and Lawrence had already won under Russell's guidance, while Adams and Cooper also received previous nods!), their chance of taking to the Dolby Theatre stage tonight is pretty slimapart, perhaps, from Lawrence, thanks to her wacky antics as the proverbial ditzy blonde! All things considered, however, the performances here do come across as a tad overstated; likewise, while the late 1970s atmosphere is impressively evoked throughout (helped in no small measure by a killer soundtrack that includes Steely Dan, Todd Rundgren, Elton John and David Bowie), the film's visuals seemed inordinately drab to my eyes (unless there was simply something wrong with the print I watched!).
The plot, then, is a mix of THE STING (1973) and GOODFELLAS (1990 – yeah, another tip of the hat to Scorsese!): though the con (among those being 'taken' are Jeremy Renner and veteran Anthony Zerbe) took some time to draw me in, it became quite compelling once the Mob was roped in, with the suspense quotient rising in view of their inevitable retribution if the F.B.I. operation's cover were blown. At 138 minutes, the film can seem lengthy and repetitive, but the surface style succeeds in keeping it all together – and, as I said, the characterizations are solid (and, individually, entertaining) enough to anchor the fanciful (albeit true) events in reality.