American Hustle

American Hustle takes a tongue-in-cheek approach to true crime stories, complete with the sarcastic disclaimer at the beginning: “Some of this actually happened”. We know immediately from this line that what we are about to see may be based on real events but will be filtered through a lens that not only allows there to be a decent amount of dark humor but one that also is now free to alter the facts as much as it wants without fear of history buffs attacking it for its inaccuracies. 

This is a brilliant approach because, while moviegoers do understand that film isn’t fact and dramas aren’t documentaries, there is still an expectation for a reasonable amount of factual accuracy, just with some dramatic flair added in. American Hustle, with that one line on screen, no longer has to meet that criterion, and it accomplishes this in the most simplistic way possible: straight up telling us. 

The film is essentially a fictionalized telling of the Abscam scandal of the late 1970s and early 1980s, where several members from both chambers of the United States Congress and others were convicted for bribery and corruption. The investigation lasted for two years and involved the US Department of Justice and convict Mel Weinberg videotaping politicians accepting bribes from a fictitious Arabian company in exchange for political favors. The scandal became the subject, or inspiration, of numerous films, a miniseries, was parodied by SNL, Fridays, and even addressed on an episode of Dallas.

American Hustle began life as an unproduced screenplay entitled American Bulls***. This script ended up #8 on the 2010 Black List of most-liked unproduced screenplays before finally getting picked up by Columbia Pictures and David O. Russell signed to direct. Then, as is common with such long-gestating projects, it went through a series of rewrites, retooling the script to alter the characters into caricatures of the real-life figures. This allowed Russell to exercise greater creative freedom over the overarching narrative without having to be beholden to the facts. It also gives the film a more light-hearted, yet still dark, tone that Russell is known for. He would consider this film to be the third part in a loose trilogy about ordinary people trying to live extraordinary lives. 

The plot revolves around Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) and Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams), two con artists working together in 1978. Sydney utilizes a faux British accent to pose as English aristocrat “Lady Edith Greensly”, a cover that has improved the duo’s scams. While Irving loves her, he is unwilling to leave his unstable wife Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence) because he may lose custody of her son whom he has adopted. On top of that, Rosalyn has threatened to report him to the police should he ever leave her. Irving and Sydney are caught in a loan scam by FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper), but he cuts them a deal. If they can line up four additional arrests, he will release them. 

Irving brings in a Hispanic friend, Paco Hernandez (Michael Peña), to play a wealthy Arab sheikh looking for investment opportunities in America. Together, based on a suggestion from an associate of Irving’s, they approach Mayor Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner) of Camden, New Jersey, who is working towards revitalizing gambling in Atlantic City but is struggling to find enough investors. Carmine is a family man who also seems to have a genuine desire to boost the area’s economy and his constituents. Richie’s plan, against the wishes of Irving, is to make Polito the target of a sting operation. Money is transferred to a private account to legitimize the appearance of the sheik, and the mob is brought on board for their experience in the gambling business. Meanwhile, Polito is being subtly manipulated by Sydney into falling for her, which starts to drive a wedge between her and Irving. On top of that, Rosalyn is getting herself involved, jeopardizing the whole operation. 

David O. Russell has a keen eye for period detail, which helps sell the illusion that we are looking in on a bygone era. This is further enhanced by his stars, all of whom fit perfectly into this era of history. Christian Bale is especially sleazy looking, sporting extra weight and one of the most hilariously bad combovers in cinematic history. This is not a glamorous role for the actor, and he seems to relish in the absurdity of this character. Amy Adams, however, is simply stunning and juggles her many character accents well, never losing sight of which character she is supposed to be at any moment. We’re also not quite sure from scene to scene just where her ultimate loyalties lie, which is a real testament to not only the strength of the writing but her ability to translate that to her performance.

This is a bit of a farce, however, which means that characters are exaggerated and situations sometimes come across too coincidental to be totally believable. A scene featuring Robert De Niro, playing a mob leader who just happens to speak Hebrew, comes across like manufactured tension. It serves no real purpose other than to make audiences feel like the jig might be up before it can really get going. How it’s resolved is equally improbably.

Bradley Cooper’s portrayal of Polito is also a bit too broad even for a farce. His relationship with his supervisor goes from tense to off-the-wall in a hurry. That, coupled with some physical details—such as how prissy he is about his hair—makes it hard to believe in him as a legitimate character. It takes a long time for us to get to a satisfying resolution with this character, and those ridiculous traits do finally pay off, but until it does, it’s hard to get a bead on him. We’re meant to see him as an utter fool, easily manipulated, but that takes a bit to really sink in.

This film plays best when you are familiar with the real history behind it and can tie the real-world characters to their counterpoints on screen. Strictly speaking, though, that isn’t necessary to enjoy this film. On its own merits, it is an entertaining film that shares some DNA with another con-film, The Sting. It’s not quite on that same level as the Redford/Newman film, but it does have moments just as clever and surprising. 

Academy Award Nominations:

Best Picture: Charles Roven, Richard Suckle, Megan Ellison, and Jonathan Gordon

Best Director: David O. Russell

Best Actor: Christian Bale

Best Actress: Amy Adams

Best Supporting Actor: Bradley Cooper

Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Lawrence

Best Original Screenplay: Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell

Best Costume Design: Michael Wilkinson

Best Film Editing: Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers, and Alan Baumgarten

Best Production Design: Judy Becker and Heather Loeffler

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Release Date: December 13, 2013

Running Time: 138 minutes

Rated R

Starring: Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Jennifer Lawrence, Louis C. K., Michael Peña, and Alessandro Nivola

Directed by: David O. Russell