Flawed for a Certain Audience

Rating: 7/10 (22 February 2015)

American Hustle (2013) tells the true story which can be seen as bizarre enough, yet it's clear from the outset that director David O Russell's primary touchstones are cinematic, most notably, Scorsese's Goodfellas as seen through the refractive prism of Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights, with a smidgen of Whit Stillman's The Last Days of Disco sprinkled in as seasoning. In terms of awards fodder , it also owes a debt to Argo, following its winning formula of handsome stars with outlandishly retro hair arrangements reliving American stories from the late 70s that are too implausible to be entirely made up. What makes the film work are the stellar Oscar nominated performances from the main cast, which is why American Hustle is a stellar yet over flawed film. For a rewatch 07/05/17' American Hustle is quite the film, as it's story and plot are quite confusing at times but overall the acting performances and chemistry from the cast is what makes it standout. It somewhat drags on and the story isn't very typical which is why we see such hate from casual film fans, calling this film "boring" and "overrated"