American Hustle (2013)
TOMATOMETER
Critics Consensus: Riotously funny and impeccably cast, American Hustle compensates for its flaws with unbridled energy and some of David O. Russell's most irrepressibly vibrant direction.
Critics Consensus: Riotously funny and impeccably cast, American Hustle compensates for its flaws with unbridled energy and some of David O. Russell's most irrepressibly vibrant direction.
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A fictional film set in the alluring world of one of the most stunning scandals to rock our nation, American Hustle tells the story of 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 powerbrokers and mafia that's as dangerous as it is enchanting. Jeremy Renner is Carmine Polito, the … More- Rating:
- R (for pervasive language, some sexual content and brief violence)
- Genre:
- Drama
- Directed By:
- David O. Russell
- Written By:
- Eric Singer (V) , David O. Russell , Eric Warren Singer
- In Theaters:
- Dec 20, 2013 Wide
- On DVD:
- Mar 18, 2014
- US Box Office:
- $150.1M
Cast
-
Christian Bale
as Irving Rosenfeld -
Bradley Cooper
as Richie DiMaso -
Amy Adams
as Sydney Prosser -
Jeremy Renner
as Carmine Polito -
Jennifer Lawrence
as Rosalyn Rosenfeld -
Louis C.K.
as Stoddard Thorsen
Related News & Features
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Now Streaming: American Hustle, Inside Llewyn Davis, and More
– Rotten Tomatoes
-
American Hustle Earns $200 Million
– Deadline Hollywood Daily
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Critic Reviews for American Hustle
All Critics (248) | Top Critics (49) | Fresh (230) | Rotten (18) | DVD (2)
Save your admiration for the performances, especially Lawrence, who is now Hollywood's most important presence in front of the camera.
It turns out that comb-overs, cleavage, cocaine and kookiness are an unbeatable combo.
Director David O. Russell and co-writer Eric Warren Singer grab hold of the FBI's long-time Abscam sting (conducted in the late '70s into 1980) as their kernel of truth, then Jiffy Pop it like mad.
Ambitious even as it studies, exploits and explodes ambition, "American Hustle" is as good as any American film this year. It's also a lot of fun. Don't miss it.
American Hustle is a movie built on that cornerstone of the American Dream, reinvention. If you're not happy with who you are, or who people think you are, then go ahead and become somebody else. Anything to survive - and thrive.
The source of this movie's galvanizing intrigue is that the characters remain in play -- they never settle into place
David O. Russell has made an amazing film here, filled with some of the most complicated, well-developed, and fascinating characters to grace the screen this year.
It's confusing in tone, though very funny at times, especially coming from Cooper and Lawrence, but by the end, Russell feels he's warranted an emotional reaction from the audience when he's done anything but.
An entertaining but bloated, starry, Grand Hotel-sized con artist caper that looks, sounds and feels like Scorsese without a smidgen of the electricity he effortlessly brings to his pictures.
The movie's greatest strength [is] Russell's magnanimity toward his characters, an equable, never cloying embrace of their imperfections.
David O. Russell has a gift for the farce at work in American institutions, and in American Hustle he's created another instant classic.
David O Russell's film fizzes with energy and wit, bowling along with a brio that matches the quick-wit and razzle-dazzle of its con artists.
David O. Russell's '70s caper nearly out-Scorseses Scorsese. Rollicking fun stuffed into '70s wrapping paper.
Amy Adams is spectacular, febrile, dramatic, comic, sharp, sarcastic and magnificent to look upon, especially her soaring laughter in an explosive comic-sexual scene set in a nightclub ladies' room stall.
To call the end result an absolute triumph would undercut more apropos labels; it seeks to be one of the best films of the year, and transcends that goal.
Pode até ser uma espécie de Os Bons Companheiros versão light, mas não deixa de ser incrivelmente divertido.
Like the Abscam con, the film is a convincing confection, so well played that we don't care if it's the real deal or not.
Look, I think this is a fabulous film.
One of the films of the year for me.
A fun, energetic caper that tries hard to make you love its characters, but mostly fails to succeed..
Definitely an actor's film, with some great moments and terrific performances within an uneven story backed by a killer 70's soundtrack.
Wide characters, deep storytelling, bad hair and a great 1970s soundtrack fill this stylishly seductive comedy about small time con artists working their way up the food chain.
What could have been a trifling little caper movie becomes, in the hands of Russell and his superb cast, a rich, character-driven film of humor, drama and surprising warmth.
David O. Russell's American Hustle is slick, surprisingly funny, and actually makes the horrendous styles of the 1970s look kind of appealing.
Russell's world view is essentially optimistic and romantic
Spearheaded by enormously charismatic actors and a script's verbal wit that overrides its untidiness.
Audience Reviews for American Hustle
A pair of con artists are blackmailed into helping the FBI entrap corrupt politicians or face jail. David O. Russell's long con comedy drama was very well received upon its release and fans of Martin Scorsese will no doubt see his influence throughout the film. It has the flavour of a PG rated version of Casino as these amoral hustlers try to out manoeuvre each other while staying one step ahead of the organised criminals they are charged with duping. Its light-hearted tone makes for a few amusing moments, often revolving around Christian Bale and Jennifer Lawrence's car crash of a marriage and the general level of ineptitude displayed by this cut price Ocean's crew. But one thing the story didn't seem to have is any kind of narrative momentum. It just seemed to be a loose collection of characters heading in the same general direction towards an ill-defined goal dressed up in Boogie Nights' wardrobe. The cast are all fine and it is consistently entertaining but there seems little meat on what is little more than an insubstantial con job with an inevitable who's conning who twist. In the end this fun but flimsy film feels like it could've been so much more in the skilled hands of Scorsese himself rather than a pretender to the crown.
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Super Reviewer
"Some of this actually happened" set the stage up for me to give it a go. And it wasn't half as disappointing as I'd feared. Some of the parts felt overdone, but it's fine otherwise.
MoreSuper Reviewer
David O. Russell revisits a political blip from the 1970's and immortalizes it with this strong ensemble tour de force wherein the politics are the least part of the equation. Why? Because they are superseded by the highly volatile personal relationships driving the whole affair, a wet kiss to our whole social maelstrom. Particularly resonant are the nonlinear conversations, so unlike the movies, so like real life, giving every conversation a beautiful WTF quality.
This guy Russell is practically our only decent response to supposed better quality Brit films and I'm liking him.
Super Reviewer
O. Russel's direction is an acquired taste at best, but American Hustle is an incredibly smart, funny, and old school crime film that keeps the audience guessing. It heavily benefits from its witty script delivered flawlessly from its impeccable cast.
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Super Reviewer
American Hustle Quotes
- Sydney Prosser:
- You're nothing to me 'til you're everything.
- Irving Rosenfeld:
- It's the crazy thing about people. The more you say no, the more they want in on something. It is so stupid.
- Irving Rosenfeld:
- That's the way the world works. Not black and white, like you say. Extremely gray.
- Irving Rosenfeld:
- The art of survival is a story that never ends.
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