American Hustle (2013): American Gem

David O Russell has become one of the best motion picture directors currently working. Most of his movies have been hits, sure, but they’ve also been critically lauded, his actors have given some of their best performances under his guidance, and, happily, he seems to be getting better with every new project. His last four movies before American Hustle were Three Kings (1999); I Heart Huckabees (2004); The Fighter (2010), winning Oscars for best supporting actor and actress, and five other nominations including best picture and director; and Silver Linings Playbook (2012), which won Jennifer Lawrence the Oscar for best actress, and received seven other nominations, including best picture and director. The guy is on a roll.  American Hustle is as good, and possibly better than its precedents.

For one thing, Russell seems to have formed a little repertory company now: A.H. features Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, his stars from Silver Lining Playbook, along with an unbilled appearance by Robert DiNiro, who played Cooper’s dad in that movie; along with Christian Bale and Amy Adams from The Fighter. (This is actually Bale’s fourth film for Russell.) Actors must enjoy working with this director, and who can blame them. The above mentioned all got Oscar nominations for their past work with him (Bale and Lawrence taking home statues), and all are absolutely fabulous in A.H.  A newcomer to the company, who also gives us an award caliber performance here, is Jeremy Renner, a two-time Oscar nominee, for The Town (2010) and The Hurt Locker (2008). I mention all the award bling to make the point not just that this is a star-studded movie, but that you are in for quite a treat if, like me, you get off on great movie acting.

American Hustle takes its story from the Abscam political corruption scandal of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Essentially, this was a sting operation run by federal agents which led to bribery and conspiracy convictions of a US senator, six members of Congress, and various state and local officials, mostly from New Jersey and Philadelphia. Abscam, short for “Arab Scam”, took its name from the FBI's strategy of having agents pose as an Arab sheik offering "gratuities" to the politicians, in exchange for political favors. Many aspects of the operation seem ludicrous in retrospect, including the government’s use of a crass, cigar-smoking, convicted con artist, named Mel Weinberg, to help set up their stings.

Weinberg is the basis for Irving Rosenfeld, the main character in American Hustle,  played by Christian   Bale. The movie is a fictionalized version of the story, although as it states at the outset, some of the stuff depicted in this film actually happened.

Irving is depicted as a paunchy, middle aged con man acting as a loan broker to desperate people, often shady characters themselves, who can’t qualify for legitimate borrowing. He takes a flat, non-refundable $5000 fee for his services. Invariably the clients get turned down – the loans don’t exist – and Irving keeps the “fee". Irving’s got a beautiful and hilariously bimboesque wife, Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence), whom he tolerates, and a beautiful, conniving  mistress and partner in crime, called Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams), who poses as Lady Edith Greensly, with a posh British accent and alleged banking connections across the pond. When their little sucker game gets busted, the vain and overly-ambitious FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper) cons the con artists into working for him. He wants to use their flimflam skills to go after bigger fish, such as the flamboyantly sincere, self-promoting mayor of Camden, NJ, Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner).

The story about the various hustles is a good one, and there are intrigues, subversions, unintended consequences, fuck-ups and surprises along the way.  But American Hustle is way more and way better than its plot. It’s a snapshot of a time, as the 70’s turned into the 80’s, when mores were changing, inflation was raging, cynicism (following Nixon and Watergate) was high, people were still dancing to “disco” (including the 1975 mega-hit The Hustle) and fashion – at least for men - was at an all time low (see photos).

Russell captures the look of the time beautifully (and amusingly). Hair was big, literally and figuratively, and all the stars seem to appear in curlers at one point or another, Cooper and Adams most notably.  Renner sports a magnificent Elvis – no, make that Fabian – style pompadour. Lawrence wears her blonde locks in a period-perfect sexy up-do.  Bale, famously, fashions an elaborate and farcical comb-over daily. In fact, he is almost unrecognizable, and not just because of his hair: he gained a lot of weight, and, with a schlumpy pot-belly and stooped shoulders, his Irving Rosenfeld is the physical antithesis of his Bruce Wayne or even of Dicky Eklund (his dissipated, wacked-out character in The Fighter).

Then there’s the East Coast angle. As he did in The Fighter and S.L.P., Russell (who also co-wrote the screenplay) and his ensemble capture the sound and cadence of the regional patois (in this case, New Jersey) with flair. There’s quite a bit of squabbling between the various characters, with people talking over each other, speaking without thinking or listening, most of which is played for laughs and is quite funny to watch.  This writer/director really knows how to stage an argument. I loved that aspect of his earlier films, and it may have reached its apotheosis here. (Warning: if you hated all the internecine family arguments in The Fighter and S.L.P., this may not be your cup of tea.)

One theme of American Hustle is hubris. All of the major characters are ego driven and self-centered. All are greedy in one way or another – for money, for status, for love and/or admiration. These tendencies produce much of the dramatic tension in the picture and have consequences, but are largely played for laughs. This theme is intended also as a reflection on American society. When Mayor Polito wants to thank Irving for his friendship, he gives him a microwave oven (a still new technology that the characters refer to as the “science oven”). When the morality of scamming people is questioned, Irving responds that everyone does it, and the victims deserve it. When the morality of government agents offering bribes to politicians is questioned, the response is pretty much the same – they deserve to get entrapped. When Rosalyn screws things up, she always turns it around so it’s Irving’s fault. (Irving comments that she’s “the Picasso of passive aggressive karate.”) It’s a dog-eat-dog world.

The movie moves along. It’s very funny. Best of all, every member of the cast is just terrific. It’s hard to pick standouts. Bale has never played a character remotely like Irving, but he is as credible here as he was in The Fighter, although more sympathetic, despite being a scumbag. I happened to see Amy Adams in three different pictures this past week (The Master [2012], Her [2013] and A.H.), yet I completely believed her as Sydney. She is a convincingly different person in every role. Cooper is intense and completely immersed in his personification of the manic DiMasso. Some people find this character too similar to his “Pat” in S.L.P., but I disagree. Renner is brilliant as Carmine Polito, again unlike anything else I’ve seen him in.  Jennifer Lawrence's performance is a thing of comic beauty, just great.

DeNiro makes a cameo appearance as a mob boss – something he could do in his sleep - and he nails it, of course. Louis CK, playing DiMasso’s cautious, resistant boss, Stoddard Thorsen, is good as a foil for Cooper. Ironically, Mr. C.K., a very funny guy, is the least funny character in this movie.  Indeed, one of the best bits in A.H. occurs just after he leaves the room, as a jubilant DiMasso hilariously mimes Thorsen’s dour, disapproving mien, then bursts into gleeful laughter.

In many respects, American Hustle resembles some of the comic Coen Brothers films, like Raising Arizona, The Big Lobowski, or Fargo.  Even in moments of tension or danger there’s a sense of absurdity in the situation, the characters, or both. The characters are no less real, the plot no less compelling, but there’s an off-kilter attitude, that keeps you smiling. 

Unlike Silver Linings Playbook, there is no letdown at the end of American Hustle.  It is a complete Gem. In fact, I want to see it again. I recommend it wholeheartedly.

In wide release.