American Hustle

This 2013 film was an Oscar nominee, and with good reason. American Hustle is a clever twist on a common genre. The cast was great, the wardrobe was fantastic, the scenery was fresh; and most importantly, Amy Adams was beautiful (she’s a favourite of mine). No, that is not why I thought this film was so good. Yes, it had some negative aspects. No, they do not outweigh the positives, and here’s why:

The negatives in this film are as follows: The film was a bit dry in very few areas, and it did become hard to follow at times. However, the pros of this film are as follows: Each character was unique, and had a real sense of individualism; Christian Bale once more went through the trials and tribulations of weight loss/gain to fit a role; the costumes were a blast from the past, which was definitely fun; there’s a distinct sarcasm throughout this film, almost as if to critique the actual genre.

Enough bantering, this is the basic plot for the film: The film follows the fictional characters: Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale), Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper), Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams), Mayor Carime Polito (Jeremy Renner), Rosalyn Rosenfeld (Jennifer Lawrence). Irving is a conman that gets pushed by a ruthless FBI Agent, Richie DiMaso, into a world of underground deals; all to weed out the mass amounts of corrupt government officials. What starts as a smaller operation to oust Mayor Carmine Polito, quickly evolves into a scene of powerbrokers and mafia.

Understand that while I understand why it was nominated for an Oscar, I also understand why it did not win an Oscar. This year was a very good year for the film industry, and a lot of new, interesting films were released. With that said, this film is most definitely worth seeing. The film is rated R, and I would not recommend showing this film to children; they will neither understand it, nor learn any valuable lessons from it. This film is meant for a more mature audience due to the fact that it deals with some rather complicated ideas.