Good movie but not a great

Rating: 8/10 (27 January 2014)

I went into this movie with great expectations because, well just have a look at the cast and you expect nothing but greatness. At the end of it, I was more or less satisfied but I couldn't help but feel that this movie could have been much greater. However the cast were all terrific in their own roles, with Jennifer Lawrence being the standout performer in spite of probably having one of the lesser central roles in the plot. Both Christian Bale and Bradley Cooper were solid and Amy Adams was lovely as always. These great performance were mainly the reason I rated this movie above average because they were certainly a joy to watch. I liked the plot, twist within twist with a whole lot of mini-twists here and there and it did allow all characters to develop to a certain extent. However in my opinion, it was at times a little too complex for its own good. Don't get me wrong, I like a movie with a deep plot that doesn't give everything away to the viewer straight away. Even then, American did seem to lose to me for brief periods here and there, in spite of me trying to pay a great deal of attention to the movie. A great example of a similar type movie is Sting, which keeps twisting you around till the last minute without actually over complicating things. At the end of the day, I'd say American Hustle is a good movie and is definitely worth a watch but it could have easily been much bigger with a little tempo injected in some parts and a more direct approach in some other parts.