Review: American Hustle

American Hustle is as swaggering as its charismatic characters. David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook, The Fighter, I Heart Huckabees) has dared to mix crime caper, the mafia and comedy in this lavish production, with a slew of ridiculous characters all playing each other in a desperate bid for personal supremacy. Loosely based on the F.B.I.’s famous Abscam sting operation that targeted public corruption in the 1970s and ’80s, we focus on a braggadocio con-artist couple who are forced to help the feds bring down the big politicians whose actions are ‘ruining America’. American Hustle has been compared to The Sting and Goodfellas. From its hustling flashbacks and confidence tricks to its Henry Hill voiceovers and retro style, American Hustle is exactly that.

Aesthetically flawless, the clothing and makeup departments must have worked in overdrive (‘Another metre on those flares!’ ‘Skin another dog: we need more fur!’). American Hustle is a visual delight – a Savile Row LSD nightmare of ’70s sartorial chutzpah. The complex hairstyles (comb overs, pompadours, rollers, wigs) are a fitting metaphor for the characters, who carefully conceal the ugly reality with risible charade. The devastating soundtrack, of brassy Duke Ellington, strutting Tom Jones and bassy disco, whips up a perfect aural accompaniment of bold hedonism and flash class. It all makes for a thrilling watch.

The actual plot is surprisingly simple: various characters on a collision course of conniving conning. I was expecting more twists and turns that didn’t materialise, which means that the characters are by far the most important element. The film’s strength undoubtedly lies in the acting, which is pure perfection. Christian Bale (The Fighter) dominates the screen as the overweight, balding but convincingly charismatic conman Irving Rosenfeld. The mercurial performance straddles loveable rogue and thieving so-and-so. Amy Adams (The Fighter), Irving’s partner-in-crime, is unsettlingly credible as a perpetually-reinventing borderline sociopath: her fake British accent starts to muddle with her American one as she falls too deeply into her role-playing. Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook) plays ambitious F.B.I. agent Ritchie DiMaso with hyperactive enthusiasm. This irrepressible performance is another which proves that Cooper isn’t simply a romcom support. Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook), one of Hollywood’s most talented young actors, is Irving’s unstable wife, who regularly sabotages plans and sets fire to a good number of household objects. Lawrence also manages to be the funniest of the main cast. Jeremy Renner, new to the Russell canon, is in more of a supporting role, but is nonetheless solid as a sleazily slick but well-intentioned Italian-American politician. Also watch out for a surprising star guest appearance.

What the audience might not expect is the comedy, for the film is as much that as it is drama or crime. American Hustle is incredibly funny, thanks to the actors’ brilliant comic touches, from their ridiculous actions to petty squabbling during high-octane action. Russell has even cast comedian Louis C.K. as a spendthrift cop who incessantly starts, but never finishes, a random story about ice-fishing. It works almost like a sitcom, with the cast weaving in and out of each other in neurotic hilarity, and it’s a lot funnier than Friends.

Distrust abounds in this society, trapped somewhere between love and hate, admiration and contempt. They play each other and that is their problem: life is a desperate attempt to attain the shimmering mirage of The American Dream. The title is thus perfect for a critique of ego-centric greed and boundless ambition which dominate today’s political and economic headlines.

American Hustle is less straightforward than it seems. The tempo, the humour, who the bad guys are and who you should root for all elude simplicity. I’m not too sure what kind of a film it really is: is it any more than superficial fun? I believe so, because it is so effortlessly entertaining that you don’t realise what a thoughtful study of humans and their motivations it really is. A dry statement precedes the movie, saying ‘a lot of this actually happened’: American Hustle is as dazzlingly deceptive as the characters themselves.