AMERICAN HUSTLE

SYNOPSIS – backed into a corner two hustlers must pull off an ever- expanding con Classifying American Hustle is a bit difficult, on the one hand you might say that it’s clearly a crime movie - our main characters are, after all, con artists. On the other hand you might well argue it’s a drama film as the relationships between the characters drive the plot as much as any crime caper. Then again others would say it’s obviously a sharply written comedy, with great deadpan delivery by its cast. Ultimately American Hustle is all three of these and its crowning achievement is to succeed on all three levels. The key to its success as a crime film is using the central hustle effectively spacing it out throughout with each new complication ratcheting up the stakes and the tension. Seeing the initial small hustle balloon into a vast scam makes the pace move at a brisk pace. The drama element has two main strengths that make it a success; the first is the characters themselves with all their brilliant hang ups and neuroses. There is not one bland character in the entire main cast. The second is the cast’s performances, which range from the brilliantly insane and erratic (Bradley Cooper and Rosalyn Rosenfeld) or deadpan brooding( Christian Bale and Amy Adams). Watching these various personalities crash and clash with each other helps bring the story to life. As for the comedy, though the performances again should be credited, most should go to an extremely and sharp witty script. There is no “funny scenes” whether in the middle of a family argument or a tense part of the scam - comedy loaded lines fire out of the casts’ mouths with machine gun rapidity. This is definitely a good way to start 2014 and I can only hope there are more films of this calibre on the way. Final verdict 9/10 slick and stylish - this is a great synergy of cast and script.