Oscars 2014: 9 Hilarious Scenes From The Best Picture Nominees (And 1 That Fails Miserably)

3. Irving Meets Richie's Mexican Sheikh - American Hustle

Russell's movie is actually really entertaining. I may not love it as much as other critics, but there's no denying that it's got a whole lot of charm. The film maintains at least two major themes - one's about survival and the other is about how people believe what they want to believe. This stuff is repeatedly said or shown through various contexts, starting with Irving's (Christian Bale) elaborate combover to Jennifer Lawrence's nail polish that has a hint of garbage to its odour. I've already covered the funniest scene that talks about survival, but here's one that's all about trying too hard to make people believe what you want them to believe. Irving is cornered into helping DiMaso (Cooper) make four major busts. In order to do that, he's created an elaborate plan to have Atlantic City's mayor meet with a "Sheikh" who will invest his money into the city. But DiMaso gets fellow agent Paco Hernandez (Michael Pena) to play the Sheikh, much to the disgust of Irving. The scene is hilarious for so many reasons; DiMaso keeps complimenting Irving ("Again? Again you compliment me?") because he's supposedly stolen his girl from him, Irving can't believe DiMaso didn't use his guy and Paco Hernandez calls ABSCAM for what it is. "This whole thing is racist. Abscam? Arab-scam? It's completely racist!" DiMasso replies: "What do you care, Sheikh? You're Mexican." So wrong yet so right in so many ways.