American Hustle

Yet another film like Philomena and The Butler comes out of the woodwork.  To call it "based on" the Abscam scandals would be a joke. At least, this time, they changed the names of the people involved- which is a good idea since it is, after all, mostly fiction. This may be the most miscast movie ever. Some movies are brilliantly cast- like Gone With the Wind. But had GWTW been as miscast, then Fred Astaire would have been Rhett and Mae West would have played Scarlett. There is ZERO chemistry among the leads. Amy Adams has (so far in her career) been incapable of projecting the sex siren character. Jennifer Lawrence seems (so far in her career) incapable of moving her face, but projects all of her emotions through the random tear and her husky voice. Bradley Cooper plays the bumbling FBI agent as a frantic, virtually manic, lothario. Saddest of all is the misuse of Christian Bale as a con man used to work the sting. You've seen this type of movie a zillion times. Bad guy has to work with the feds to catch other bad guys or he'll go to prison. It is SUPPOSED to be a comedy, I think. Yet, I laughed even less than the 5 or so other people who laughed a few times. I was really expecting a fantastic movie- how could it MISS? Ugh. But miss it did- in a sorry, sadly acted, poorly scripted film. I'd say you should skip it. It shouldn't have ever happened.