I Was "Hustled" by the Hype!

Rating: 3/10 (31 December 2013)

I am absolutely astounded by all of the fantastic reviews this movie has gotten by the critics and users on this site. Did we not watch the same movie? I was so bored about an hour into this show that I almost fell asleep watching it. This movie was at least 30 minutes too long and so over acted it was ridiculous. It looks to me like the only reason this movie had all of the big name stars in it (Jennifer Lawrence, Amy Adams, Christian Bale, Robert De Niro, etc.) was to insure a big box office draw because they could have done this film just as easily with mostly unknowns and saved themselves about 30-35 million dollars.
The critics made such a big deal about Christian Bale's physical transformation but as far as I'm concerned... WHY??? What was the point of him gaining 40 pounds for this role? It did not add one single thing to the plot of this movie. He could have done the exact same performance in his natural state and it would not have made any difference to the movie or his character.
Usually I love Jennifer Lawrence in anything. She is so talented and beautiful, but her character portrayal was way too over the top and cliché as a self absorbed, loud-mouthed New Jersey housewife. You might as well have been watching an episode of The Real Housewives of New Jersey or watching Snooki on Jersey Shore.
Then there is Robert De Niro playing (shocker) a mobster! Talk about type casting, I'm surprised they didn't just include Joe Pesci and Michelle Pfeifer as his sidekicks.
I understand that this movie is up for some Academy Awards. They should not award this movie or any of the actors awards for this. I would not recommend this movie to anyone unless they have about 2 hours and $10 to just throw away. When I saw the teaser for this movie I said to myself, "I can't wait to see that". After seeing it, I said to myself "I want my money back".