American hustle: Crazily grows on you

American hustle
Starring: Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams
Rated: 5.5/10
It’s a crazy kind of movie around crazy kind of men and, of course, women. But this one is a surprise entry for this week when all the small and unhappening fare both from Hollywood and Bollywood filled up a silly weekend.
Pivoting around two con artists (not at all funny ones), some stupid Feds wanting to make a name for themselves, certain situations around a good politician and a dazzling cameo by Robert Di Nero as the former mafia king of of New Jersey’s now legalised casino world, The American Hustlegrows on you rather surreptitiously. Just when you are flicking away the film along with your popcorn and cola, the main characters con you into the entire operation with the finesse of experts. Amy Adams looks and acts dazzlingly, though Bradley Cooper with all the curls on his head and the twists and turns around him gets sidelined by Christian Bale and his stunning hairdo as Irving Rosenfeld.
As the most unlikely conman, who actually runs a series of dryclean shops much against his wishes, Bale stuns you with a controlled performance along with a sexy Amy Adams who is his partner in crime as Lady Edith Greenleigh with banking connections in London. Together the two form a firm called London Associates which promises loans for $5000 but never delivers. The chemistry between the two as lovers and co-workers is crackling even though Rosenfeld is married to beautiful but crazy Jennifer Lawrence, his ‘Picasso of passive-aggressive karate’.
Amid all these characters, not to forget Di Nero, there is a lot of hullabaloo happening — which you would like. 
Source: Sunday Pioneer, 19 January, 2014

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