Amy Adams steals this movie

Rating: 9/10 (5 January 2014)

Lets start with the movie itself. David O. Russell who both wrote and directed advances his career nicely with this one. Arguably a tad overlong, arguably the beginning is slow, but by midpoint the audience is hooked on this offbeat "caper" film with some of the strongest performances seen in years. Especially enjoyed the scene about a hour in where Bale sits down and eyeballs diNiro -- since for most of the movie Bale has been doing his diNiro impression, and a pretty good one, at that. Liked seeing Anthony Zerbe in a walkon, this man has been acting since before your parents were born and rivals the late Anthony Quinn as one of the longest-working actors in Hollywood. But at the end of the day, when the lights are out, and you are are alone with your thoughts, the performance that really pops is Amy ("Dance with me baby") Adams. Pushing 40, and no spring chicken, it seems odd to say this is a breakout role for her, but the fact is that she has never used her looks and talent to better purpose. She stands out in each scene she is in like some sort of cinematic "Where's Walda" test. And the use of the British accent just makes her character that much more interesting. Russell set out to make a classic and here he just may have succeeded. **ODD FACTOID** As reported in Businessweek (of all places) this was nominated for an Oscar as a "comedy" even though everyone, critics and film-maker included, is of the opinion it is actually a drama. BW reported that this was part of the new "tricky marketing" in Hollywood where (not making this up), by implying a film which is NOT a comedy really IS a comedy, you increase the potential box office by (theoretically) attracting movie patrons genuinely looking for a comedy***