American Hustle

We've all seen con films before, but how many films have we seen where it's a con conning a con who's conning a con? Not too many, especially ones whereas the script, direction and acting were as superb as we see in "American Hustle".

A fictional film set in 1978 about the alluring world of the most stunning of scandals or stings to rock our nation, this tells the story of a 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 Pawnbrokers and the mafia that's as dangerous as it is enchanting. Jeremy Renner is Mayor Carmine Polito, the passionate, volatile, New Jersey political operator caught between the con-artists and the Feds. Irving's unstable, unpredictable wife Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence) could be the one to pull the thread that brings the entire world crashing down, just by her cluelessness and screwed up demeanor.

Others to round out the cast are Louis C.K. as Stoddard Thorsen, DiMaso's boss, Jack Huston as Pete Musane, Michael Pena as Paco Hernandez/Sheik Abdullah, Shea Whigham as Carl Elway, an associate of Polito's, Alessandro Nivola as Anthony Amado, Elisabeth Rohm as Dolly Polito, Carmine's wife, Paul Herman as Alfonse Simone, and Said Taghmaoui as Irv's Sheik Plant.

This was superbly directed by David O. Russell ("Flirting With Disaster" '96, "Three Kings" '99, "I Heart Huckabees" '04, "The Fighter" '10, and "Silver Linings Playbook" '12). Both "The Fighter" and "Silver Linings Playbook" were winners, quality wise and Academy Award wise, and after seeing this, I see the same pattern. This guy only gets better with each film he touches. Equally, writers Eric Warren Singer and Russell ("Fighter" and "Playbook"), wrote an absolutely winning screenplay worthy at Oscar time. Films with this con-artist theme, as said prior are favorites, and the last time I saw one this good was '73's "The Sting" with Paul Newman and Robert Redford. Interestingly, "Sting" was also an Academy Award winner, and if history repeats itself, 40 years later, the Oscar gold could very well happen again.

This film just keeps you riveted more and more as the film progresses, and if you think you've seen the sting in this, just wait, because as the old adage goes, "you ain't seen nothin' yet". The selling slogan really says it all, "Everybody hustles to survive".

Out of 4 Stars: 4                        Rated: R                         138mins.