What do you get when you put Christian Bale, Jeremy Renner, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence into a twisted screwball comedy co-written and directed by David O. Russell? The answer is cinematic gold. Russell had worked with the majority of the actors in American Hustle on some of his previous movies (he lead Jennifer Lawrence to Oscar glory for Silver Linings Playbook, you'll remember), so the chemistry here is - as expected - dynamite. And the story, set around the ABSCAM scandal of the 70s and 80s, proves to be fertile cinematic ground. The highlight here is watching everybody go to work - by themselves, on each other... however they can get it. Thankfully, partly due to the never too serious tone of the movie, there's no sense of the actors trying to out act one another, which can often be the case with ensemble flicks of this kind. Instead, we're treated to a movie that thrives in its savvy characters and the manic situation, and is isn't afraid to be balls to the wall hilarious whilst still dealing with true to life subject matter. American Hustle is, simply put, one of the best times you'll have at the movies this year.
