# American Hustle



## Xaios (Dec 11, 2013)

Looking forward to this movie, and so far the reviews have been pretty glowing: American Hustle - Rotten Tomatoes

David O. Russell's last couple movies (The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook) were both great movies that managed to wring the actors involved for all they were worth, some of whom I didn't think had it in them and was pleasantly surprised to be wrong (see Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook).

But more importantly, it has both Jennifer Lawrence AND Amy Adams looking DAMN fine.






It opens in just a couple days, I'll probably be seeing it myself sometime next week (assuming it opens here on time).


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## JoshuaVonFlash (Dec 11, 2013)

Xaios said:


> But more importantly, it has both Jennifer Lawrence AND Amy Adams looking DAMN fine.


YES!


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## Xaios (Dec 11, 2013)

I still remember Amy Adams monologue' in Talladega Nights like it was yesterday. When Will Ferrell said "I'm as hard as a diamond in an ice storm" in response, he wasn't the only one. 

And, yeah, she's a great actress too.


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## Rick (Dec 11, 2013)

Xaios said:


> But more importantly, it has both Jennifer Lawrence AND Amy Adams looking DAMN fine.



Yes.


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## Demiurge (Dec 11, 2013)

Can't wait to see it, if not just for that many of the 'outside' shots were down in my city several months ago. Apparently my shitty city is a dead ringer for a grimy 70's NYC.


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## wankerness (Dec 12, 2013)

It's supposedly very funny, but sort of disjointed. This is a relief to me, since seeing all the prerelease pictures of the fashions I was like "these people look so stupid I can't deal with a serious movie with this setting." Clearly, the ridiculousness was intentional. I'm interested in seeing it for sure, mostly because I've watched anything that looks even remotely good that stars Jennifer Lawrence ever since seeing Winter's Bone a few years back. 

I don't understand the David O. Russell critical wank-fest that has been going on for a few years now, though. I didn't see anything special in "the fighter" at all and he's barely even made anything else? Three kings seems like the only movie of his that has attained any sort of classic status. I really liked Silver Linings Playbook but it was basically just a really well-acted and appealing old-fashioned romantic comedy.

RE: Amy Adams, I love her in most movies she's in, and think she's normally incredibly beautiful as well, but man, this has to be the worst she's ever looked! 70s hair was so horrific.


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## flexkill (Dec 12, 2013)

I am looking forward to seeing this also. Looks good.


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## Demiurge (Dec 23, 2013)

Just got back from seeing it. Really enjoyed it. I was expecting a kind of black comedy, but it turned out to be more of a straight-up comedy. Great performance by everyone, and Jennifer Lawrence was especially hilarious. Fortunately, Amy Adams didn't have the crazy hair from that photo Wankerness posted above for the whole movie; I had her pegged as kind of a mainstream, rom-com-and-Disney-movie chick, but in this role she was hot as hell. 

What's kind of funny is that the downtown of my city was shut down for large chunks of days for shooting, with building signs changed, etc., all to get 5-second clips of the characters walking down the street.


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## Adam Of Angels (Dec 23, 2013)

I will see this for the two lovely ladies alone, not to mention the fact that I'll watch anything Mob-related.


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## Skyblue (Dec 28, 2013)

Just saw it two days ago- apparently bra's weren't invented in the 70's yet  I don't think Amy Adams has a single scene in which she's wearing one. 
So great movie overall  

Jokes aside though, I did really enjoy the movie. Insanely great acting from all the actors (Christian bale was awesome, plus he should probably get a reward for most weight gain and loss for movies- the machinist, anyone?), the plot was laid out great- a damn fine movie.


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## Fiction (Dec 29, 2013)

Great story, poor execution. I think it could of definitely been condensed, whilst still exploring a few more details, also the cut was somewhat confusing to follow in different sections, they tried to play the "here's the result, now lets explain how we got here" card a few times, but it just seemed poorly put together.

I still enjoyed it though. Plus Amy Adams great divide were always there to entertain during those boring scenes.


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## wankerness (Dec 30, 2013)

The plot was a bit too convoluted and it didn't hang together as well as it could have (as I think the previous guy was alluding to there's a confusing and totally unnecessary flash forward at the beginning) but it was a lot of fun. Louis CK was perfectly cast as the cop that gets shat on like no other. Christian Bale was delightful. I am about the biggest Jennifer Lawrence fanboy out there so I was quite surprised to discover I didn't like her that much here, she seemed kind of miscast. She's certainly not bad at all, but yeah, it seemed like the part should have gone to someone more like, I dunno, Adriana in the Sopranos. She's got the trashiness and the attitude down pat but just looks and sounds way too young (and too attractive?!). Amy Adams is glorious and probably the most beautiful woman in the world. Hard to believe she'll be 40 in 2014. She definitely is the emotional core of this movie and she just radiates warmth, even though it's often just a matter of her having a pained expression in her eyes while she carries on her bullshit. The part where she drops the accent was the biggest stand-out.
















I thought it was kind of similar to Silver Linings Playbook where I was expecting something much edgier than I got, and when it was all over I was sort of relieved that it was so good-natured. I'll probably like it more on repeat viewings. 8/10


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## wankerness (Dec 30, 2013)

Demiurge said:


> Fortunately, Amy Adams didn't have the crazy hair from that photo Wankerness posted above for the whole movie; I had her pegged as kind of a mainstream, rom-com-and-Disney-movie chick, but in this role she was hot as hell.



Yeah, she only has that in one scene and the rest of the time is painfully gorgeous. I always thought she was completely adorable in stuff like The Muppets, Enchanted, The Office, Catch me if you Can, etc and she was one of my favorites already, but in The Fighter they had her bartending in tiny pants and looking as trashy/hot as possible and it was a revelation! It was also like  She's definitely given plenty of opportunities to be glamorous and seductive here but as I said above they also manage to keep her as a sort of moral center of the movie and you really feel for her throughout, she projects such panic and helplessness in some of the scenes where she's busy scamming people and her feelings for Christian Bale really are quite touching! 

It's too bad she's in so many lame movies, looking through her back catalog about the only things I haven't seen that are supposed to be any good are "Doubt" and "The Master." I'm half-tempted to watch "Man of Steel" just for her but I think I would regret that very much. Oh, she's also in "Her" which I really, really want to see but probably won't get a chance to before home video


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## flexkill (Jan 2, 2014)

This movie was a big disappointment for me. It just kept dragging on in most scenes. It was decent but nothing that I was hoping it would be.


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## wankerness (Jan 3, 2014)

I went to see it in the theater yesterday, it was even better the second time. Something I didn't mention before is how great the soundtrack is. Anything that opens and closes with Duke Ellington is doing something very right. It's sorta fluffy and I'm sorta annoyed that Jennifer Lawrence is getting so much more attention than Amy Adams when she's in about 1/3 as much of the movie and isn't as good. It's the huge crowd-pleasing science oven and live and let die parts, they skew anyone's perspective!

Bradley Cooper was better on second watch, he didn't leave much of an impression on first watch but on second it was a good balance of desperation and pathos being covered up by swagger and eventually insanity (though I think the part where he's acting all coked-up trying to nail Amy Adams might have been too much). His best scene is the one with his mom and fiancee. I like how the movie has a slightly melancholy tone to some of the proceedings. It seems to feel bad about the characters who don't have a happy ending. It's all so good-natured and innocuous that I don't really get the Goodfellas comparisons. I guess it's just the period setting, the presence of Robert Deniro as a gangster (VERY briefly), all the long tracking shots and the voiceovers at the beginning. Ah well. I liked it a lot. I don't think it's best picture material or anything but I fully intend to buy it when it comes out on video.


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## feraledge (Jan 3, 2014)

I thought the movie was decent enough. I'll probably never watch it again unless I just want to see Christian Bale going way too into another role. He's a seriously killer actor. 
I don't understand casting his wife as a 19 year old (or whatever) and his mistress in her mid-30s. I think Amy Adams is better actress, but it's really hard for me to get over how young Jennifer Lawrence is for a lot of the roles she's getting.


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## wankerness (Jan 3, 2014)

Amy Adams is like, six months younger than Christian Bale, and the movie has several lines of dialogue about how Jennifer Lawrence is way too young in comparison and he was basically "rescuing" a single teen mother, so I think the age difference thing is being frowned on. I thought she was miscast on first watch but noticed that it did seem to be written with someone that age in mind on second watch. It seemed to be more written for someone her age than "Silver Linings Playbook." But yeah, my favorite role of hers is still Winter's Bone.


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