American Hustler

David O. Russell (‘Three Kings,’ ‘The Fighter,’ ‘Silver Linings Playbook’) scores big again with his intricately well-crafted 70’s crime-noir ‘American Hustle,’ loosely based on the ABSCAM Scandal which brought down several prominent politicians at both the state and national levels.  From its opening scene, when hustler Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) and FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper) tried to bait Camden, New Jersey mayor Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner) into taking a bribe and DiMaso overplayed his hand, ‘American Hustle’ pulls you irresistibly into its sordid world of con-artists and ‘dirty’ politics and doesn't let up.

Reuniting Christian Bale and Amy Adams from ‘The Fighter’ as well as Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence from ‘Silver Linings Playbook,’ ‘American Hustle’ certainly boasts a talented ensemble cast.  In one of his best performances,  Batman  Bale played the balding, bespectacled and pot-bellied Rosenfeld, a small-time scam-artist who, aided and abetted by stripper-turned-English noblewoman ‘Lady Edith Greensley’ (Adams in a splendid performance, whenever these eyes are not drawn to her side-boob in her low-cut dress), swindles $5,000 checks from desperate people who needed loans he had no intention of honoring.  Caught by ambitious and prone-to-overreach FBI agent DiMaso in a sting operation (though it wasn’t him who screwed up; he just has a weakness for women like Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence), he was coerced into using his considerable talents helping DiMaso catch ‘bigger fish’ in the guise of dirty politicians.  Polito, a well-meaning mayor who only wanted to revitalize the economy of his fair city and create jobs by attracting investment to develop a chain of casinos, became their prime target.  Too bad.

Engrossing, intelligent, sexy and quite funny, ‘American Hustle’ takes a fascinating look at the dirty underbelly of 1970’s America.  Its moral palette is rendered not in black-and-white but shades of gray.  What makes this movie so captivating is how we grow to sympathize with Rosenfeld (who in the beginning is a scoundrel worthy of our contempt) as he struggles to ‘do the right thing’ and escape from his situation of being used by a ruthless FBI agent whose methods become more and more questionable.  He may be, as his on-screen wife Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence in yet another fine performance) pointed out during an indiscreet moment to their young son, a “sick son of a bitch,” but his story is one of redemption in the end.

Grade: A

That Rosenfeld fella is sure one lucky guy