Review Roundup: AMERICAN HUSTLE-A Movie Well Played

A fictional film set in the alluring world of one of the most stunning scandals to rock our nation, American Hustle tells the story of brilliant con man Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale), who along with his equally cunning and seductive British partner Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) is forced to work for a wild FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper). DiMaso pushes them into a world of Jersey powerbrokers and mafia that's as dangerous as it is enchanting.

Jeremy Renner is Carmine Polito, the passionate, volatile, New Jersey political operator caught between the con-artists and Feds. Irving's unpredictable wife Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence) could be the one to pull the thread that brings the entire world crashing down. Like David O. Russell's previous films, American Hustle defies genre, hinging on raw emotion, and life and death stakes. Directed by David O. Russell and Written by Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell. (c) Sony

Let's see what the critics have to say...

Alonso Duralde, The Wrap: "Any number of movies have attempted to mimic the style and content of films by '70s mavericks like Scorsese and Robert Altman, but rather than quote the masters, Russell instead channels their bravado, their chutzpah and their love of working without a net. The result is one of 2013's most memorable movies, one that's strong enough to have been one of 1979's best as well."

Christy Lemire, RogerEbert.com: "Russell's film is big and big-hearted and more than a little messy, but that's apropos given the over-the-top characters, their insatiable greed and their brazen schemes. Sure, it looks like the cast went nuts at a Goodwill store and splurged on the grooviest duds they could find for an elaborate game of dress-up, but the clothes more than just a kitschy source of laughs: they're a reflection of their characters' ambition, a projection of their glittering notions of the American dream."

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: " He gets astounding performances from Adams, who is hell on wheels, and Jennifer Lawrence, who plays Irving's manipulative wife with a crazy-sexy fury that dares to be toxic. As for Bale, he's fantastic as a lying sleaze with a hidden heart. It's one of the film's rippling ironies that the FBI agent violates every code of decency to entrap crooks, and his prime target (that Jersey mayor) is the most honorable person on screen. In American Hustle, down is up, right is wrong, the con is the truth, and David O. Russell has become the most exciting filmmaker in America."

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: "Some of Russell's tricks feel familiar, but they mostly work. One is his deft way of fox-trotting his characters back and forth until whirling them together in one bravura sequence of fast-moving, crosscutting action -- in this case, a formal party teetering on disaster. Less effective is Russell's use of pop chestnuts (Steely Dan, Chicago, the Bee Gees) to set a mood or make a point. Lawrence's mad-housewife rendition of Paul McCartney's "Live and Let Die" may be a gonzo hoot, but it also feels too broad for this otherwise sublime movie."

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: "As for the exaggerated costumes, hair and makeup, it's all part of Russell's master plan to show characters reinventing themselves as a survival mechanism. Condescending, no. Compassionate, yes. Russell sees himself in these broken dreamers. For some, the silver linings in Russell's movies represent a failure to embrace darkness. I see them as a humanist's act of resistance. That's why American Hustle ranks with the year's best movies. It gets under your skin."

Justin Chang, Variety: "In film after film, Russell doesn't just flirt with disaster but courts it openly, positioning his characters in precarious, pinball-like configurations and letting them fly, his sympathies alighting on each of these lovable losers in turn. (There are no heroes or villains here, and no dominant protagonist, either, as evidenced by the way the voiceover keeps shifting from one character to the next.)"

Kate Erbland, Film.com: "American Hustle should be Russell's punchiest film yet - it certainly has all the pieces in place, from solid talent to an intriguing storyline to borderline perfect costumes and sets - but the end result falls flat more than once, and its sagging middle is only saved by its enjoyable characters. Narratively, American Hustle is all over the map, and while Russell harnesses some major zip and pizzazz when it comes the film's first fifteen minutes and its final sequences, most everything between moves along without much coherent flow or consistent excitement."

David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter: "Sporting a ridiculous home perm and a Tony Manero wardrobe, Cooper has never been funnier or more manic. Motor-mouth Richie's anxiousness to avoid being trapped behind a desk leads him to all kinds of unwise decisions, making him as shady as Irv or maybe more so. And Renner, with a magnificent pompadour, gives the film a welcome dose of poignancy. A breed of mensch rarely encountered in Irv's circle, he's a thoroughly decent if somewhat gullible family man, heartbroken to learn he's been nudged down the wrong path."

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