It seems that David O. Russell has somehow flown
under the radar over the past few years despite pumping out The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook, two of the more entertaining (extremely
entertaining for that matter) films that the given time period has offered.
Both The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook have a highly
energetic pace but Russell’s latest, American
Hustle, is nearly absent of this which is a real shame considering that a
faster, sporadic pace would nicely complement the sting operation plot and the
characters that come with it. The story it’s self is flat but that could largely
be contributed to Russell wanting the focus to be on the characters involved. Aiding
in this is a more than capable cast in the form of Christian Bale, Amy Adams,
Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence and Jeremy Renner that take on these already
solid characters, causing for the films issues to be easier to look past. Each
of the main characters is interesting in their own right due to not just what
is revealed but what isn’t. There is depth to these characters and if one can
dig deeper than the upfront entertainment value that each has they become even
more special. American Hustle is a
film that looks at how easy or how difficult it can be to deceive or create a
perception of a situation for someone else and how human relationships and personalities
can get in the way of this. This is carried out the only way it can be, through
the characters that make up the film.
Grade:
B
