Russell can Hustle......

Rating: 7/10 (11 January 2014)

Irving Rosenfeld along with his cunning and seductive British partner Sydney Prosser are forced to work for wild FBI agent Richie DiMaso.
DiMaso pushes them into a world of power-brokers and mafia that's as dangerous as it is enthralling.
A volatile, New Jersey political operator is caught between the con-artists and Feds. But its Irving's unpredictable wife, Rosalyn who could be the one to pull the cord that brings their worlds crashing down.
Apart from The Fighter, it's really difficult to place any of Russell's movies into a genre. Try Silver Linings Playbook, most would say Drama, but its funny, romantic, thrilling and musical.
Is you could stand this next to any other movies, it would cross Goodfellas with Boogie Nights, and just a pinch of Oceans 11.
Its a caper movie for sure, but the characters are richly explored, and each personality has a wonderful impact on the film. Bale of course is wonderful in this, channelling early De Niro by way of Tony Clifton. The look on his face when he has an accident with his hair in the opening scene, is laugh out loud funny.
The film is brilliantly funny in places, but it has such a dark arc to it, Coopers random outbursts of anger and De Niros appearance are both sinister and give the film a sadistic edge.
Adams has never been better, and Lawrence proves she is going to be one big star.
Many have said that they walked out, or its boring. Well those who walked out have missed the beautiful twist come the end, and the others, well, your wrong.
Its not going to win many awards, but its a fun ride.