A review by Brenda Daniels
American Hustle has been nominated for Best Picture and various other awards for the upcoming Oscar ceremony on 3 March, so I went along to the South African preview to see what all the fuss was about.
The film, set in New Jersey in the 1970s, tells the story of con man, Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale), and his partner, Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams). The two meet and become lovers and then, posing as a Briton with “banking connections”, Sydney helps Irving take his underhand dealings to a new level. Caught out by FBI agent, Richie Di Maso (Bradley Cooper), they are lured into an even bigger world of crime in an effort to catch dirty politicians and the mafia red-handed.
Cooper brought a certain manic amusement to his role as an agent determined to make it big and I enjoyed this. The hoodwinked politician, Mayor Carmine Polito, played by Jeremy Renner, had a certain endearing vulnerability to him, and Irving, convincingly played by Bale, had a soft side to him, exhibiting patience with his dumb wife, Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence), and affection for his young son.
The film opens with Irving working on an elaborate “comb-over” hairdo, and most of the characters sported hairstyles that required some work. This aspect seemed to mirror the characters’ fake lifestyles, and highlighted their weak efforts at, now and then, wanting to “be real” with each other.
Apart from these mildly redeeming qualities the characters and action in American Hustle are relentlessly seedy.
It was hard, and in fact quite boring, to enjoy a two-hour film that gave no interesting message, showed no characters I could identify with enough to care about, and provided no relief from the dirt. Whilst I don’t like the 70s era with its iconic clothing, music, coiffeurs and American mobsters, there are viewers who do. They’ll get plenty in this film.
American Hustle opens at Ster Kinekor in South Africa on 28 February. It carries an age restriction of 16LS.
Jennifer Lawrence (left) and Amy Adams in a scene of American Hustle (Source: Creative Commons)
- 1970s
- 70s
- academy award
- academy awards
- american
- american hustle
- amy adams
- bradley cooper
- cavendish
- christian bale
- crime
- criminal
- david o russel
- drama
- eastgate
- elaborate
- fake
- false
- gateway
- hair-do
- hairdo
- hairdos
- jennifer lawrence
- jeremy renner
- lifestyle
- mafia
- mobs
- mobster
- new jersey
- oscar
- oscars
- pavillion
- politician
- sandton
- south africa
- ster kinekor
- westgate
a feast of tales 