With The Wolf of Wall Street, Scorsese tried to use his Goodfellas template to tackle corporate (as well as individual) greed and - with some exceptions, failed to sustain the same energy and humor as his earlier film. During the same Oscar cycle, writer/director David O. Russell tried and succeeded in making a winking, winning application of the Casino playbook to a different racket. The story of con men, gangsters, and the agents who try to tame them, American Hustle works as both loving parody and pure, frenetic entertainment.
And what entertainment it is - the relationship between con artists Irving (Christian Bale) and Sydney (Amy Adams) is a fascinating blend of grift and a true union of kindred bullshitters, the rivalry between Irving and Richie (Bradley Cooper) is more humorous than tense, and the scorned Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence) is a hilarious, self-damaging fury. These characters' neuroses and plots converge into something both fascinating and messy. From brief moments (Amy Adams screaming on the toilet) to well set-up gags (the "science oven" fire) and running jokes (the ice fishing story), Russell gets laughs while making us understand who - and how ridiculous - these characters are.
In aping Scorsese's style to the letter, Russell manages an excellent parody of the form. The elaborate camera movements that pull us into step with the characters, the pop/rock-soundtracked montages, and the possibly-treacherous wife are all accounted for and appropriately gaudy. Russell also achieves the Goodfellas effect of luring us into an attractive world while also making us notice the shallowness of the lifestyle. Most importantly, we have the De Niro character in full force. As the focused and intelligent criminal who can't resist some of his spoils, Bale's Irving is the perfect stand-in for De Niro's Sam Rothstein. Bradley Cooper is good as a Pesci character that Bale must babysit even as his screwups continually escalate, but Bale's De Niro impression - down to the finger-wagging lectures - is tops. When Irving comes face-to-face with mob boss Victor Tellegio (De Niro), he freezes as he recognizes one of the most feared men in New Jersey. But De Niro's sudden appearance and the Tellegio-Irving standoff is more than just a stare down between two veteran criminals - or even two excellent actors. It's a weird and hilarious confrontation in which Bale finally has to face the man he's been impersonating while De Niro appears to be unamused by the impersonation. The film is consistently funny in this way, and I found myself laughing at both the in-story gags as well as Russell's loving Scorsese parody.
The film is not without its problems - it loses both the depth of Sydney's character and Amy Adams's acting abilities when Sydney seems to drop out in favor of the less-established Rosalyn. It's also debatable whether all of the speechifying, narration, and blunt explication is in service of the Scorsese parody or if it's just a characteristic of studio dramas creeping in. Mostly, though, American Hustle is the rare entertainment that manages to be funny, charming, and thoughtful in a way that only Hollywood can be.
The ensemble cast is stacked with excellent actors (Christian Bale, Amy Adams), actors in the process of proving their range (Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Jack Huston), and well-cast character actors (Jeremy Renner, Louis CK, Paul Herman). I recognize that opinions may vary on the grouping of these actors.
Like the Wolf of Wall Street, American Hustle similarly questions whether the Feds are hunting the right criminals, or if they're just nabbing the politically convenient ones.
Crew & Cast
Directed by David O. Russell (Spanking the Monkey, Flirting with Disaster, Three Kings)
Written by David O. Russell & Eric Warren Singer (The International)
Cast
Christian Bale - Irving Rosenfeld
Amy Adams - Sydney Prosser
Bradley Cooper - Richie DiMaso
Jeremy Renner - Mayor Carmine Polito
Jennifer Lawrence - Rosalyn Rosenfeld
Louis CK - Stoddard Thorsen
Jack Huston - Pete Musane