She's a Hustler Baby and Wants You to Know - Jennifer Lawrence and the American Hustle Review

What a treat!

Nora Lewis, one of my dearest friends, came and visited Old Man Baine here yesterday. Why, she even took me out to lunch and then to the picture show.

Yes, the sweet, gorgeous and nothing short of extraordinary, Nora Lewis. For those of you that know her, you realize that that description is an understatement. She is also habitually late, has no track of time and thinks her Garmin is the end-all be-all of street navigation.

But that's what makes her so sweet. Not only that, she has a blog on the eats of Las Vegas. You can check out Nora's blog here. (Nora's Blog)

We lunched at my favorite lunch spot in Orange County. Rutabegorz. There are 3 very quaint locations throughout OC and we visited the Fullerton location. Food is great, staff is great. We both highly recommend it. But be forewarned. If you order a salad, it's big enough to feed the Pygmy population of Papua New Guinea.


Pygmys eating Nora's leftover Rutabegorz salad.

After lunch, Nora dutifully punched in the address of the theatre into her little buddy Garmin and we were on our way. Never mind that it was down the street and I knew the quickest way to get there. We went the way that little fucker told us to. Nora is nothing if not consistent. So sweet she is.

We made it to the theatre. Bought our tickets. We were about to get our American Hustle on.

AMERICAN HUSTLE - 2013 - ***

dir. David O. Russell.

Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Jeremy Renner, Louis C.K., Jack Huston, Michael Pena, Shea Whigham, Alessandro Nivola, Robert DeNiro.

Let's just talk about Jennifer Lawrence for a moment. I have loved this actress since I saw her in 2010's Winter's Bone, my favorite film that year. Last year she was in Silver Lining's Playbook, again, my favorite movie of the year and she won an Oscar for it. And I would put The Hunger Games: Catching Fire in my top 10 this year. So it is no surprise that Ms. Lawrence was my favorite thing in American Hustle.

Now let's talk about director David O. Russell. I admire his films. They are some of my favorite. Flirting with Disaster. Three Kings. The Fighter. Silver Linings Playbook. I was really looking forward to American Hustle.

I was a little disappointed.

Here's the question. Can actors raise a sub par movie to greatness? The answer here, is yes. American Hustle would not be the movie it is without the outstanding performances of the five leads.

Here, David O. Russell is reuniting with stars from his previous films to bring you a glossed over, at best, retelling of late 70's, early 80's, ABSCAM fiasco. The FBI's public corruption investigation that led to the downfall of nearly a dozen elected officials.

Christian Bale plays Irving Rosenfeld. A small time con artist who teams up with Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams, who looks a lot like a young Nicole Kidman here) to scam thousands of dollars from the people who need it the most. Very desperate people looking for the easy way out by taking a loan they shouldn't. Irving is the pole. Sydney the bait. A match made in heaven. They're probably in love with each other. Never mind that Irving has son and young wife named Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence.) 

It can't last forever. They are soon busted by a bumbling agent (Bradley Cooper in a performance that has to be seen to be believed) and forced to help entrap government officials.

For me, the film stayed in the same gear from start to finish. A sense of urgency was never built. I never felt the plight of what these characters were going through. The screenplay and the directing did not hustle me the way the acting did.

The attention to detail in American Hustle is reminiscent to that of the 2009 Soderbergh film The Informant! Another flashy period film that focused a lot of attention on costume, set and makeup when really they should have been focusing on rewrites. Russell's film doesn't suffer the same demise that that film did because of the bravura performances of his cast.

Adams. Cooper. Renner. Bale. Lawrence

Christian Bale is unrecognizable, brilliant, pathetic, hilarious with every word he utters and every

move he makes. He gives one of the best performances of the year as the balding, overweight Irving. Amy Adams is solid as usual and I think her breasts might get a nomination this year for Best Supporting Actresses. Bradley Cooper. Oh, Bradley Cooper. You're just so god damn cute. Even when you are sitting on the toliet, eating fried chicken, with curlers in your hair. He's a maniac in this role. He tears it apart and it's awesome to watch. Jeremy Renner might give the best performance of his career as Mayor Carmine Polito.

But it's my Jennifer Lawrence as Rosalyn who does it for me. She's fucking hilarious. Some people say she was over the top. Not me. Spot on. What else do you expect from a depressed, alcoholic, stay at home Mom? In the 70's? Some of the funniest lines in the film belong to Lawrence. And don't even get me started on the Science Oven.

I wouldn't be surprised if all 5 actors walked away with Oscar nominations for this film. It's their movie. They make it work. It's not the best picture of the year but it sure is fun.

(3 stars *** out of 4 ****)