American Hustle is a blend of comedy and facts, loosely based on the Abscam sting of the 1970’s and early 80’s. That part of the movie brings back memories for me when I was in college and my professor in my political science class came out and discussed the sting operation and expressed how upset he was since some of the people involved were very close friends of his and they wouldn’t do anything like that.
Putting that aside, the movie opens with Christian Bale, who plays Irving Rosenfelt, a con man who is trying to put his hair together with a wig. You see him spraying glue on top of his bald head and using parts of his long hair to make himself look like he has a full head of hair but you know when you see him that that isn’t the case.
Then there is his sidekick, Amy Adams, who plays Sydney Prosser, who is there reassuring him that he looks fine even though he doesn’t. As the movie moves along in the beginning, we see the history of how they met and how their relationship developed. It was hard for me to buy into Rosenfelt’s dry cleaning business and Sydney having hundreds of outfits to choose from since so many people leave their dry cleaning behind like they did in a Seinfeld episode.
As far as the music went, there was a lot of 70’s music from Steely Dan, Chicago, and the Bee Gees during a scene when Prosser and DiMaso were at a disco. Seeing Rosenfelt and Prosser bond over Duke Ellington seemed out of place being that it was the 70’s, it seemed that music of that age could have been more appropriate since the rest of the music was from that era.
Bradley Cooper plays Richard DiMaso, an overly ambitious FBI agent who wants to take down politicians and the mafia. He manages to get Irving and Sydney in a sting operation and forces them to work for him to do his dirty work. You can’t help but enjoy how his character squares off against Louie CK, who plays Stoddard Thorsen,Richard’s boss and and the other agent, who seemed like the next Rudy Giuliani.
Jennifer Lawrence’s character really brings the house down in the movie. Just when you think that this operation is stable, there she is, talking to people in the mafia or making Rosenfelt’s life crazy when she starts fires in their home with a sunlamp and a microwave. Every scene that had Jennifer Lawrence brings this movie up a notch. The biggest scene is when the FBI team confronts the Mafia, which is lead by Robert DeNiro, and you wonder what Lawrence’s character is going to do next.
The move had a lot of laughs and at times was filled with suspense. It’s tough not to give this movie five stars.
Ron Hummer
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