American Hustle (2013)

American Hustle (R) - Review

"Been so Dazed and Confused since I met you..."

A shabby yet enigmatically successful scam artist and his  female accomplice are brought under the thumb of the law by an egotistical FBI agent hell bent on capturing larger and larger fish.  Relationships form and crumble around them as they tread into deeper crime waters filled with danger and moral ambiguity, the question is who is scamming who in Director David O'Russel's (3 Kings, Silver Linings Playbook) take on the ABSCAM scandals of the late 1970's.

Sleazy, hair piece ridden and overweight, Christian Bale (The Dark Knight) slips beautifully into the role of lowball scam artist Irvin Rosenfeld.  The vivacious yet many faced Sydney (Amy Adams) is his partner in crime, who effects a fake English accent and even fewer clothes than a Boogie Night's audition reel.  The two love birds lives are suddenly complicated when FBI man Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings) catches them in their art scam and recruits them to further sting operations, using their expertise to entrap local and federal politicians.  Cooper's jerry-curled ego soars as his successes mount up as fast as Sydney's come ons.  But the entire operation is on the edge of a New Jersey razor named Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence), a poison bottle of sex and chaos just waiting in the wings to ruin anything her husband Irvin gets her involved in.

The movie is well acted (especially Adams and Bale in their love triangle), funny in the right moments with great production values and writing with some surprising and strong guest appearances.  Unfortunately the fun is too fleeting: the twist ending is obvious, Rosalyn's character (who is surprisingly well played) is simply overwritten whereas a more understated thematic would have helped her immensely, and the entire package never fully congeals into greatness.  Add to that some out of touch music choices and a sagging middle act, the use of skin without the balance of sin, and American Hustle only shambles about on the dance floor with a few left feet instead of the flying syncopated disco routines that this cast and crew thought they were delivering.

7.5 Garbage Nail Polishes and Where's my ZEPPLIN??? out of 10 (GOOD)