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SONY

MOVIE INFO

Director:
David O. Russell
Cast:
Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams
Writing Credits:
David O. Russell, Eric Warren Singer

Synopsis:
Con man Irving Rosenfeld and his seductive partner Sydney Prosser become forced to work for wild FBI Agent Richie DiMaso, as he pushes them into a world of Jersey powerbrokers and the Mafia.

Box Office:
Budget
$40 million.
Opening Weekend
$19,106,933 on 2507 screens.
Domestic Gross
$150,117,807.

MPAA:
Rated R.

DISC DETAILS
Presentation:
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
Audio:
English DTS-HD MA 5.1
English Audio Descriptive Service
Subtitles:
English
Closed-captioned
Supplements Subtitles:
English

Runtime:
138 min.
Price: $9.99
Release Date: 3/18/2014

Bonus:
• 11 Deleted/Extended Scenes
• “The Making of American Hustle” Featurette
• Previews


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RELATED REVIEWS


American Hustle [Blu-Ray] (2013)

Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (May 26, 2024)

Ever the bridesmaid and never the bride, David O. Russell has received three Oscar nominations as Best Director without a victory. For the third and most recent of these films, we go to 2013’s American Hustle.

Set in the 1970s, Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) runs a small chain of dry cleaning stores and also engages in some loan scams on the side. When he meets Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams), they immediately fall for each other and she becomes an active participant in his schemes.

One major snarl: Irving remains married to the difficult and unsteady Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence). He stays with her largely to support his adopted stepson Danny (Dante and Santino Corbo), and surprisingly, Sydney accepts this situation.

When FBI Agent Richie DeMaso (Bradley Cooper) snags Irving and Sydney in their scams, he forces them to agree to work with him to help his career. This leads them through a mix of sting operations that eventually threaten to spin out of control.

When I first discussed Hustle on a discussion board in 2013, I offered one snarky comment: “On tonight's episode of American Hustle, the role of Martin Scorsese will be played by David O. Russell and the part of Robert De Niro will be played by Christian Bale”.

This semi-dismissal may seem unfair, but the truth remains: Russell actively channeled his inner Scorsese for Hustle. Granted, many modern filmmakers echo Scorsese, but Russell took it farther than most for Hustle.

That becomes a problem, just because it can make Hustle seem more like an imitation than the work of a director who wants to establish his own style. Perhaps because Hustle represented his seventh feature, Russell figured he already enjoyed enough of a reputation that his stab at Scorsese wouldn’t tarnish his career.

And it didn’t. As noted, Hustle earned Russell a Best Director nomination, and it snared nine other Oscar nods, including one for Best Picture.

We’ve not heard much from Russell in the decade since Hustle, as he’s only released two more movies. Unfortunately, both were problematic as 2015’s Joy and 2022’s Amsterdam came with major issues.

Perhaps this will leave Hustle as Russell’s final truly well-received movie. If so, it seems like a mixed bag in terms of his legacy.

I feel this way not solely because of the Scorsese Wannabe Factor. While that plays a part, it doesn’t turn into the only concern here.

Instead, Russell seems so preoccupied to create a wild, rollicking movie that he forgets to deliver a particularly coherent end product. Hustle feels in love with its own abandon.

As a result, Russell favors the spectacle of individual scenes over the way in which the whole comes together. Hustle delivers plenty of show-stopping sequences, plenty of which don’t really serve the story in any clear manner.

For instance, when Rosalyn focuses on revenge, she goes through an aggressive house-cleaning ritual accompanied by her performance of Wings’ “Live and Let Die”. Does this scene entertain? Yes, as Lawrence gulps scenery with gusto.

Does it do much to help advance the narrative? Not really, since we already know Rosalyn exists as an unsteady force.

Segments like this helped Lawrence, Bale, Adams and Cooper get Oscar nominations for Hustle. None won, though it should be noted that both Bale and Lawrence did earn Oscars for performances in other Russell movies..

Clearly actors like to work with Russell since his movies seem to add to their trophy cases. In the case of Hustle, though, Russell’s indulgences just don’t help the final product come together well.

Hammy as she may be, Lawrence does deliver a delightful performance, and Cooper does well, too. Unlike the wild Lawrence, Cooper helps ground the movie, as his take on Richie becomes one of the few in which an actor doesn’t try too hard to ACT!

And then there’s Bale. I’ve liked his work as far back as 1987’s Empire of the Sun but at some point, he started to veer too far toward “showy” performances that seemed more focused on personal transformations than actual acting.

To play Irving, Bale packed on the pounds and also allowed himself to be saddled with the world’s worst combover. He does so in service of a performance that overtly rips off De Niro.

Except Irving never vaguely feels like a real person, as Bale delivers a cinematic creation with all the seams on display. Late in the movie, Bale and the actual De Niro share a scene, and this feels surreal given how actively Bale steals from De Niro.

Despite all these knocks, I find Hustle to offer an entertaining ride. Flawed and messy as it might be, Russell moves it along at a good pace, and it never ceases to be fairly fun.

Hustle disappoints simply because it comes with too many issues as it goes. It feels more concerned with cinema-craft than actual storytelling and falls short of what it could’ve been.


The Disc Grades: Picture B/ Audio B/ Bonus C-

American Hustle appears in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This turned into a largely positive presentation.

Sharpness usually worked fine, though soft shots popped up at times. Nonetheless, most of the flick delivered appealing accuracy.

No issues with jagged edges or shimmering occurred, and I saw no edge haloes. Print flaws failed to mar the proceedings.

Hustle opted for a palette that largely traded in dingy amber/orange and teal tones. Though not exactly sizzling, the disc replicated the hues as intended.

Blacks felt pretty deep and dense, while shadows appeared smooth and clear. Despite some softness, the image mostly satisfied.

Don’t expect theatrics from the fairly low-key DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack, as it lacked much ambition. A chatty flick, music also became a nearly omnipresent factor, as score and songs filled the speakers.

Effects lacked much to do and generally stayed in the environmental domain. They added a little spark at times but didn’t give us a lot of impact.

Audio quality worked fine, with speech that remained accurate and concise. Music appeared full and dynamic.

As noted, effects didn’t get much room to impress, but they seemed natural and without distortion. The movie wound up with a perfectly acceptable soundtrack.

A smattering of extras appear, and The Making of American Hustle lasts 16 minutes, 35 seconds. It involves writer/director David O. Russell, producers Charles Roven, Jonathan Gordon and Richard Suckle, production designer Judy Becker, costume designer Michael Wilkinson, and actors Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper and Jeremy Renner.

This show offers info about story/characters and Russell’s approach to the project, cast and performances, locations and production design, and costumes. “Making” mixes praise and facts to become a spotty but occasionally useful overview.

11 Deleted/Extended Scenes occupy a total of 22 minutes, 38 seconds. Most of these offer a little more exposition and/or character information.

And they tend to feel superfluous, as they wouldn’t have added much. I do like that we get the entire take of Rosalyn’s scenery-chewing “Live and Let Die” scene, though, and an alternate in which Lawrence emotes to Santana’s “Evil Ways”.

The disc opens with ads for The Monuments Men and Inside Llewyn Davis. Previews adds clips for Pompeii and Captain Phillips. No trailer for Hustle appears here.

A self-conscious attempt to create a Martin Scorsese movie, David O. Russell’s American Hustle lacks creativity. However, Russell makes it fast and fresh enough to overcome its inherent sense of unoriginality. The Blu-ray comes with generally positive picture and audio as well as a few supplements. Expect an enjoyable but erratic take on Scorsese.

Viewer Film Ratings: 3 Stars Number of Votes: 2
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