Review: 'American Hustle'

I was deeply surprised by how underwhelmed I was as the end credits to 'American Hustle' rolled. I usually can get into a good story, no matter how complicated it gets at times. And here it didn't work out some of the time, for me at least.

The story: Irving Rosenfield (Christian Bale) is a brilliant con-artist. He has an assistant who's also his girlfriend, Sydney (Amy Adams). They both get caught by FBI agent DiMaso (Bradley Cooper) who decides to go in over his head and play along in their cons. And from then on, it turns into a mess of double-crossing, secret identities, betrayals, and affairs to name a few. This all turns what should have been a simple plot into a convoluted puzzle.

I didn't know who has conning who, who was the criminal and who was the good guy. Now some may make the argument that that was the intention of the screenwriter, to not make you know who to root for or trust. Well, I can understand that. But I think it could have been made more aware of if the pacing wasn't so slow in one segment of the movie, and then heavily rushed in the next segment. I just felt confused half of the time.

I'm not saying this is a bad movie. I'm just saying that there are some things and events in here that are structured very badly that kept me from enjoying the progression of the story. This all really baffles me, it really does. I have seen movies that have had far more difficult story-lines and plot elements and that I have loved nonetheless. I mean, most of Christopher Nolan's films have been like that for me and he's still one of my favorite directors of this century.

Hey, at least the acting is great, and the costume and set decorations look great. Seriously though, almost all leading performances in this movie are worthy of award nominations, they are that good. Bale, Adams, Cooper, Lawrence, Renner, they all do great work with what they've got. Also, much like last year's 'Argo', I did really feel like I was watching something taking place in the late 1970's. The look and style of everything felt authentic; The hair styles and clothing, the furniture, everything.

Like I said before, it's not a bad movie, I just didn't enjoy it as much. I'll definitely have to watch it again sometime. Maybe I'll like it a lot better the second time around, but for now, judging on my first viewing basis... Well, you know.

My rating: 2.5 / 4