Amazing screenplay

Rating: 9/10 (11 January 2014)

If nothing else will hook you to see this movie, go for the explosion between Jennifer Lawrence and Christian Bale's characters. That fight is one of the most intense, real interactions I've seen in a movie for a long time.
A lot of things pleasantly surprised me in this film. A 70's era con artist with atrocious comb-over of Brooklyn origin is not a persona I could imagine for Mr. Bale. But from the first scenes where he speaks I buy him immediately. The incredible twists and turns the story takes illuminates toward the end that the focus and narrator of the movie is somehow the most innocent and straightforward of all the characters introduced after the initial self-introduction that lets you know he is aware that he is conning people and that he is justified in doing so. He sees himself as doing what he's gotta do, and in fact, he has a big heart when it comes to his family. He feels obligated to stay with his wife and kid, despite the torture put upon him by a needy, whiny, do-nothing wife. But the characters are complex, taking twists and turns almost as layered as the plot itself. And this delivers, I believe, the intended effect of forcing you to take a step back in all the confusion to see the chaos and meaninglessness of each characters' self deception. It is a truly brilliant screenplay by Eric Singer and David O. Russell.
The impression the viewer receives at the outset paints Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) as the lead of the amoral, self-serving action slowly sucking in others, beginning with the beautiful Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams). He will be the brains of the operation, perhaps, it makes the most sense. But then there is a fascinating delineation of plot that now involves cop Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper), Mayor Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner), Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams), and Irving's own wife Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence.) Irving is no longer the ringleader. Perhaps the most tragic and hopelessly self-motivated character in the whole deal is the civil servant DiMaso, whose "good intentions" slowly reveal themselves for what they really are. He is so desperate to make a name for himself that he is willing to create criminals in order to take the praise for catching them, let alone his incredibly moving emotional frustrations that alleviate themselves through intermittent eruptions in the film, fueled at the foundation by a maddening emptiness and lack of self identity. What may have painted itself as a steamy romantic affair between DiMaso and one of the leading ladies quickly turns into a sickening and violently desperate grasp for an end that neither party has the foresight to see crashing to the ground before they've even started. Every single character is so incredibly rich, I'd like to take a look at each one briefly...
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