I didn't like it.

Rating: 2/10 (23 June 2014)

This is like someone -- Oh, surprise; It's David Russell(sp.?) -- tried to put "Boogie Nights" and "Casino" together into one movie, and then that movie was focus-grouped at boring people.
What I hate about Mr. Russell is that everything in his films focuses on the up-front-and-center. Everyone's got a stupid toupee, or they're over-acting, or, like ... C'mon, dude. Why do you even spend money to build a set? You could shoot this in a black box theater and then people would REALLY think you were an artist!
Anyway, I would compare this movie to "Death to Smoochy" in terms of how much of both a train-wreck and a necessity it is to watch. But it was pretty hyped up, so if you hang around with people who grill you on what movies you saw in 2013, and will throw you out of their friend circle if you didn't see "American Hustle" in the theater within a week of its release, well, if you have friends like that it probably doesn't matter whether the movie's any good or not so you can stop reading now and go watch it. Quick! They're onto you!
If you liked any or all of David Russell's previous films, you might like this one, but I can't really speak to that because I'm not a fan. I don't like any of the movies of his I've seen. They're amusing, I guess. Also, I sort of harbor a grudge against him for what I heard was a shitty treatment of bipolar disorder or whatever in "Silver Linings Playbook", but I've never seen it nor read the book. That's totally just because I'm an angry crazy person who has to put up with people thinking they know all about my crazy because they saw "Silver Linings Playbook".
That's where my hatred of this movie I haven't seen comes from. Maybe I'll go watch it now.