American Hustle. Rated M (frequent
coarse language). 138 minutes. Directed by David O. Russell. Written by David
O. Russell and Eric Singer.
Verdict: A fashionable
account of a very ordinary tale.
The trust gained as a result
of successful collaboration can create memorable screen outings – films that
function on an entirely different level, purely because the artists involved
understand each other’s creative processes in ways that those working together
for the first time might not. The pairing of Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart
is just one classic example, where audiences flocked to watch them regardless
of what they were doing.
Russell (Silver Linings
Playbook, The Fighter, I Heart Huckabees, Three Kings) obviously values the art
of collaboration with his actors. In American Hustle, he is reunited with
Christian Bale and Amy Adams (The Fighter) and Bradley Cooper, Jennifer
Lawrence, and Robert De Niro (Silver Linings Playbook). And the dividends it
pays are great – for Lawrence, in particular, whose performance in a secondary
role as con-man Irving’s (Bale) disenchanted wife, is stunning. Lawrence is one
of the most singularly interesting actors at work on film today, and if her
Katniss Everdeen re-wrote the rules of engagement for onscreen heroines, then
this performance reveals an extraordinary, big-hearted versatility.
The only problem is that the
story about Irving and his partner in business and romance Sydney Prosser
(Adams) falling for an FBI sting against a politician Carmine Polito (a never
entirely comfortable Jeremy Renner) – led by rogue agent Richie DiMaso (Cooper
being zany again) – just doesn’t have the legs to last its long running time.
Sydney-born and NIDA-trained costume designer Michael Wilkinson contributes a
magnificent array of costumes that not only perfectly encapsulate the late
1970s/early 1980s era in which the film is set, but are more often than not the
most memorable onscreen element. And when you are not marvelling at how great
everyone looks and Lawrence’s performance, there’s the soundtrack, which boasts
a songbook of greatest hits from the era.
This review was commissioned
by the West Australian Newspaper Group.
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