Going for the big one

Rating: 6/10 (6 January 2014)

American Hustle is one of the best acted films in a long time. Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Jennifer Lawrence, Jeremy Renner and Bradley Cooper are all excellent. Also Robert De Niro makes an uncredited cameo as a mobster in flashbacks that makes you think the scenes were lifted out from Goodfellas.
The film is a black comedy-drama set in the late 1970's period revolving around the the true life Abscam scandal, where FBI agents and con artists joined up to frame politicians for taking money 'to help grease palms.'
It focuses on Bale as an out of shape hustler with bad hair and Amy Adams his soul mate who passes off as an English Aristocrat. They both have been making big money in a scam where they dupe arrangement fees for loans that never materialise.
Cooper is the FBI agent with big ambitions and a big ego who wants to go after a bigger catch and more by accident has the mafia in his sights.
In the mix is Bale's wayward wife (Lawrence) and stepson. A Mayor of New Jersey (Renner) with a big heart and charisma who has been caught up in the sting operation which Bale feels very guilty about.
Directed by David O Russell who has worked with many of the cast before, this is an interesting take on con men and law men.
However the film feels flabby, it has plenty of narration which is essentially exposition. The film needed to be leaner, more playful and sharper, the humour is sporadic.
You quickly get a good idea that given some of the crooks are shown to be very nice that it is Cooper that might be the one who ends up being the mark. He is arrogant and can be boorish. (Cooper at one point beats up his superior officer who constantly tells him to be careful.)
The movie has sassiness from its female leads, quirkiness from Bale and Renner. With De Niro's steely gaze it should had been better than the final product.