Movie Review: American Hustle

American Hustle
??

Don’t be fooled. Just because a movie is nominated for seven Golden Globes and contains an all-star cast does not give it the right to pull the hood over audiences. “American Hustle” does not live up to its hype.

The film relies too heavily on its cast and less on the story that it’s trying to portray. The film is too long for its own good, causing its actually decent and intriguing ending to be overshadowed by the joy of finally getting to leave the theater. “American Hustle” is a mixed bag of emotions with both moments of monotony and moments of creative genius.

The film is the story of FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper) who convinces two cons, Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) and Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) to trade prison time for working with the agency to bring down government officials who are involved in bribes and scandals. One such character is Mayor Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner) who eventually becomes friends with Rosenfeld, leading to a series of emotional turmoil. Along with Irving is his wife Rosalyn Rosenfeld (Jennifer Lawrence) who catches on to his criminal acts and makes her mark known to all parties involved.

Adams has done well in many of her previous roles, but fell short in living up to her prestige as a Oscar nominee. Audiences see more of her bare body than her acting. Bale also failed to live up to his character’s true potential in “American Hustle.” However, through all of the poor acting, Lawrence shines bright. She perfects her role and makes audiences truly feel sorry for her character as well as feel a slight glimmer of hope for the movie.

“American Hustle” only deserves to be watched as a rental when most other movies are checked out. It may not be the worst film, but it definitely doesn’t even come close to the upper echelon of instant classics. If the point of the film is to show what a real con looks like then it is accomplishing its goal in hustling audiences to waste their time and money.

- Jeremy Wile