American Hustle (2013)

Jack, Amy, and I loved this story of con men and G-men in an uncomfortable alliance for a sting operation, loosely based on Abscam. Acting, pacing, writing, production design, costumes, and, oh, that hair, are all first rate for director/co-writer David O. Russell's next project after his Silver Linings Playbook earned seven Oscar nominations. 

Christian Bale's (last in The Dark Knight Rises and before that starred for Russell in The Fighter) physical transformation is well-documented--he gained around 40 pounds to have Irving's paunch, herniated two spinal disks with the accompanying bad posture, shaved part of his head for the comb-over--but you have to see it to appreciate his portrayal of this middle aged swindler with a soft underbelly virtually as well as literally. Amy Adams (most recently in Man of Steel and before that On the Road) is a delight as the cunning Sydney, Bradley Cooper (last in The Place Beyond the Pines) delightfully vain and manic as FBI agent Richie, and Jennifer Lawrence may get another Oscar nomination, even though she won last year for Silver Linings Playbook. Jeremy Renner (last in The Avengers) was, for a time, slated to play Irving. But when Bale again became available, Russell wrote the part of Mayor Polito just for Renner. His hair is pretty funny, too. I could go on and on about the cast (you know I can) but since 68 actors are credited and 93 uncredited, I'll stop here. 

There's one unforgettable cameo, uncredited, that was originally a guarded secret, so I'll let you find out in the second act. And I will mention that Dicky Eklund, whom Bale won an Oscar for portraying in The Fighter, plays a street thug along with his brother Sean.

Russell co-wrote the script with Eric Warren Singer.

Here are couple of pages on the production design (team led by Judy Becker, Shame) and fashion (costume designer Michael Wilkinson did great work on Party Monster (2003), American Splendor (2003), Garden State (2004), Friends with Money (2006), and Babel (2006), to name a few) that I found interesting.

I counted 30 songs at the end of the movie. Set in the disco-era of the late 1970s into the early 80s, it has a lot of great tunes, 14 of which are on the official soundtrack plus one track by credited composer Danny Elfman (last blogged in Oz the Great and Powerful), a favorite of mine. You can hear the Elfman track here.

Rated by rottentomatoes critics at 83 and audiences at 80, this was our choice for the 2013 Christmas day movie but it was sold out two weeks ago. Amy and I saw it on the 27th while Jack was out of town and he went yesterday morning. You should see it too.