Slinger has officially stepped off into the Bizarro World.

Adams was absolutely the "worst" in the film as far as performances go. She was good, but not enough to get any kind of awards attention.

I'm really mixed on the film, but this Adams dissing is ridiculous. Her and Bale are the heart of the film, and the farther we get away from their relationship the more spotty the movie becomes.

Jennifer Lawrence's character & the ensuing subplot should have been edited out. Her character is great, but the subplot is almost completely irrelevant and totally slows the movie own. Honestly think the film would have been much better focused around Bale.

Bale and Adams are easily Oscar noms. Lawrence is given very little to do; if she wins BSA this year it is a damn joke.

Her partly spilling the beans to the mobster played by Jack Huston (always glad to see him) ends up not resulting in much. Them briefly putting Bale's head in a bag in the car is not even suspenseful since it is shown in retrospect. It more or less amounts to a couple jokes when it could have become a source of conflict and tension.

As American Hustle's tagline says, "everyone hustles to survive." David O. Russell's third consecutive knock it out of the park success, this film continues themes shown in The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook of self-preservation and the never-ending journey for a better (or at least different) life. There's a madcap, frenzied energy inhabiting the proceedings, which Russell has become the master of in modern American cinema. Much of this is due to the film's crackling ensemble, all of whom are just about perfect here. Christian Bale (with another semi-extreme physical transformation) succeeds in showing warmth and heart in a character who appears to be a total schlub on the surface. Bradley Cooper carries over much of the manic energy he had in Silver Linings as the face of overinflated ego and anxiety intermingling with odd results. Jeremy Renner, less frosty than usual, is sympathetic as a well-meaning politician punished for his troubles. In one of my favorite performances from her, Amy Adams is stupendous (that fading in and out British accent, lol); she manages the tricky task of making Sydney/Edith a question mark you want to know more about instead of a dull plot device. Crashing through the film like a bat out of hell is Jennifer Lawrence, whose fiery, extremely funny performance practically steals the film on more than one occasion (is it weird to say the performance I was reminded of most was Marisa Tomei in My Cousin Vinny?). American Hustle is dripping with '70s style, from the music selection to the hilariously bad outfits and hairstyles. It's also a rollicking good time, and one of the best movies of the year. A

I am not dissing her at all, she was good in the film but not great. Bale, Lawrence and especially Cooper gave better performances though.

Bale is great. He really creates this character just by motions and speech patterns. Renner and De Niro are also good. I liked Adams a lot too, even if I never really got a sense of what was driving her character. Louis CK is very well cast. And the makeup/hairstyling work is obviously excellent.

That's all I really have to say about it. The film left no impact with me. It needed a stronger edit and script revision. Felt like they were rushing it out in time for Oscar season and they needed more time in the oven. Also- controversial statement coming up- I think Lawrence and Cooper are terribly miscast.

Cooper was good, but Lawrence's character has no reason for existing in this film. Had that entire subplot been edited out, the film would have been much stronger.

Though Lawrence's mean mug to Adams as they entered the casino was H.I.L.A.R.I.O.U.S.

nah, Lawrence is one of the bright spots of the movie. (and I say that as a person who thinks her acting can be hit or miss)

the film would have benefited from the removal of the lawrence/child storyline greatly.

Excel's last 3 posts in this thread literally only exist to say how much JLaw should not be in this movie.

That's it.

I enjoyed the hell out of American Hustle. Compelling and entertaining the whole way through, it's writer-director David O. Russell's third big winner in a row. While similar and somewhat indebted to past movies that have covered the same period, it has more than enough of the manic energy and intriguing characterization of Russell's past work to feel fresh and fun rather than derivative. Despite clocking in at well over two hours, it moves fast, it's never boring, and there's so much conning on display that it's never quite certain what direction the proceedings will take next. While the content on the Abscam scandal is interesting enough to work in its own right, what really puts the film on the next level is the study of the main characters, each of whom is played as well as he or she is written. Christian Bale, (over)dedicated as ever to his craft, goes beyond just looking the part and seems to be connected to his character and the dilemmas he faces. Jennifer Lawrence owns every scene she appears in as Bale's wife. It's a scenery-chewing role, no doubt, but it's a case in which Lawrence succeeds in embedding plenty of pain and bitterness into the over-the-top behavior. Amy Adams is also in characteristically terrific form in a performance that requires her to act within her acting. Bradley Cooper proves that his Oscar nomination last year was not a fluke with another strong performance that successfully melds dramatic and comedic techniques. Finally, although he is not a past collaborator with Russell, Jeremy Renner nevertheless does very good work as the idealistic mayor, who often plays as a well-meaning straight man to chaos evident in the relationships between the other characters. Thanks to the level of skill evident throughout the film, American Hustle, like its characters, succeeds in not only portraying its drama and its comedy on a surface level, but also in following hidden depths in which the humor has a more serious edge to it than most comedies, but the serious material is also more lighthearted than in most dramas. To paraphrase Bale's character, there's a ton of gray, but what's not so gray is how fantastic the film is.

A

The film would suffer greatly without Jennifer Lawrence. I agree her -character- is, or should not be, as essential as, say, Amy Adams', yet she is so much more riveting, so screw it. In a flawed film, I would rather spend time with an engaging and fiery, if slightly extraneous character than a less intriguing central one.

I thought Lawrence singing Live and Let Die was hysterical.

Anyway, I dislike Adams in this movie the more I think about it. I LOVE her as an actress but I just don't think she had it here. Maybe my opinion will change on a second viewing but I doubt it. Her best performances, IMO are Enchanted (where she was totally robbed of an Oscar nomination) and The Fighter.

Magnus is an idiot.

Ok?

No, but I have seen the scene in which you hate with JLaw and you're insane. It's an awesome scene.

I have, actually.

I love all the JLaw scenes and yet the other stars are even better.

Though I wouldnt say 'annoying, I will say I have no idea why her character is in the film.

BSA for her would be a total joke. This Bale and ADAMS film all the way.

I saw this again today and enjoyed it quite a bit more. It is still definitely disappointing because it is nowhere near as great as I expected it to be, but it was still pretty good. I think what was keeping me from enjoying it more the first time was because there were times where it just totally lost me. This time I kept up with it though and it was more enjoyable. I also enjoyed Adams performance much more. Not one of the best female performances of the year, but good. I guess I don't have much to say about it. It is actually GREAT for the first hour or so, and then for the next hour or so it's just good. I'm thinking about bumping my rating up to an 8/10.

As far as this versus 12 Years a Slave, while neither deserve to take home Best Picture, I would rather see this take it home than that.

And Bradley Cooper really should win Best Supporting Actor, just say. The absolute best performance of the film and one of the best performances of the year in general.

Question:

Will excel post in this thread and NOT complain about JLaw? I vote no.

thought it was boring, honestly

a little better than argo (seems to be quite similar)

This was good, but like some have already said it doesn't really live up to the critic/oscar hype. Performances wise Bale is easily the strongest, but Renner's character is really the only one I felt any sympathy for.

He was a good hearted individual for the most part who just got caught up in a bad situation and as subtle as it might be I honestly think his character had the most depth. He has some truly great scenes with Bale. Too bad critics didn't seem to notice it more.

As for the rest of the cast, everyone is pretty solid all around though JL's character is somewhat of a mixed bag IMO. She was entertaining to watch because of her incompetence, but I still can't decide if I actually liked her character in the end. Same goes for Bradley Cooper's character who a bit too much of a glorified sleaze for me to care about.

Also, I still haven't seen SLP, but overall I would say The Fighter is a much better film. Thematically and emotionally that movie is way more powerful.