"American Hustle" at Durham Library this Thursday.

The Durham Library's "Oscar" Movie Matinees Series features "American Hustle" this Thursday, July 17, at 1:30pm. Admission and snacks are free.

American Hustle

Movie Notes

Don Bourret (donb41@comcast.net)

 When American Hustle was released in 2013, many critics hailed it as the movie of the year and predicted it would sweep all the major film awards. When my wife and I saw it, however, we did not particularly care for it. We couldn’t make out what the movie was trying to be – a caper film? a Sting clone? a crime thriller? an over-the-top soap opera? – and it was taking too long a time getting there. In the end we concluded that we just did not like any of the main characters and didn’t much care what happened to them.

 I saw it again recently, however, preparing for this review, and found to my surprise that I actually liked it the second time around. Instead of being sidetracked by the individual personalities and their likeability quotients, I was drawn in by the intricate and twisting plot, the intriguing character studies and the astounding performances by all the principals. It may not be the film of the year, but it is very good indeed. (My choice in that category would be Gravity, coming to this library in a couple of weeks.)

 The film was inspired by real events occurring in New Jersey in 1978 when the FBI, aided by con artists, launched a controversial sting operation called ABSCAM (short for Arab Scam). Using a fake Arab sheik with lots of money and a yen to get into the New Jersey gambling business, they trapped a number of politicians prepared to grease the skids and help the “Sheik” get his wishes …  for a price. The film opens with the announcement: “Some of this actually happened.”

 Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) and Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) are the con artists caught in a fraud by rogue and out-of-control FBI agent Richie DiBaso (Bradley Cooper), who then blackmails them into helping him run his unauthorized sting. Jeremy Renner plays Carmine Polito, Mayor of Camden and unwitting Judas goat who gets the sting rolling. He is probably the only nice guy in the movie. Jennifer Lawrence is Rosalyn, Irving’s wife, a ditzy loose cannon who constantly threatens to unravel the whole scheme. But this is just the skeletal structure. The raw emotional outbursts fuel the relentless twisting and turning of the plot, and everyone is conning everyone else. And yes, that is Robert De Niro in an un-credited cameo as Tellegio, a very scary Mafia kingpin and former hitman.

 The film was nominated for and/or won a great many awards, including three Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Cast (the SAG equivalent of Best Picture). It also received a rare ten Academy Award nominations: Best Picture, Best Director (David O. Russell), Best Screenplay (David O. Russell), Best Actor (Christian Bale), Best Actress (Amy Adams), Best Supporting Actor (Bradley Cooper), Best Supporting Actress (Jennifer Lawrence) and some technical awards. But it did not win any Oscars.

 The movie is somewhat of a reunion for the principals. Director David O. Russell has a dozen or so films to his credit. He directed 2010’s The Fighter starring Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale and Amy Adams. Adams was nominated for Best Supporting Actress and Bale won Best Supporting Actor. Russell then directed 2012’s Silver Linings Playbook starring Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence and Robert De Niro. Cooper and De Niro were nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor respectively, and Lawrence won the Oscar for Best Actress. Rusell was nominated for Best Director for both as well as for this film.

 Film buffs may remember Christian Bale as the 13-year-old star of Steven Spielberg’s 1987 film Empire Of The Sun, playing a young boy surviving life in a WWII Japanese internment camp. He is regarded as a “method actor” for losing considerable weight and becoming emaciated for his roles in The Machinist and The Fighter. But he also bulked up like a body builder for playing the Caped Crusader in the last three Batman movies. Then he gained 40 pounds and grew a potbelly for this film. He also shaved his head and sports an outlandish wig and comb-over to complete the image.

 Jennifer Lawrence received worldwide attention and fame as Katniss Everdeen in the Hunger Games franchise and is now one of the most sought-after actresses in cinema. My wife and I spotted her unique and intense talent early on at 17 in 2010’s Winter’s Bone playing a teenager searching for her father in the Ozarks while trying to keep her family together. Check it out.

 People magazine chose Bradley Cooper as its 2011 “Sexiest Man Alive.” Amy Adams has received four Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actress as well as this one, her first as Best Actress. Jeremy Renner received a Best Actor nomination for playing a bomb-disposal specialist in Iraq in The Hurt Locker.

 There is a funny sequence regarding microwave ovens, which were still largely unfamiliar at the time, and the dangers of putting metal in them. This movie displays a lot of cleavage and has a killer 1970’s soundtrack.