So now David O. Russell has gone three-for-three in terms of putting out movies that are both crowd-pleasing and critically praised, no small feat for a guy who had his Jessica Biel political sex comedy taken away from him by an insurance company due to production troubles, leaving Russell with no movie and no prospects at the time.

After recovering nicely with the well made “The Fighter” and then following that up with the award-winning “Silver Linings Playbook,” here we have his version of a rollicking 1990’s Martin Scorsese movie, as “American Hustle” is filled with knowing voice overs, astute period details, great performances from an array of great actors, great musical choices blasting on the soundtrack, and features a fantastic juggling act of different characters and storylines that all come together so nicely.

Loosely based on the Abscam FBI stings of the 1970s and 1980s, “American Hustle” is about a pair of con artists (Christian Bale, Amy Adams) avoiding federal prison time by agreeing to work with an FBI agent (Bradley Cooper) to take down a series of people on federal charges, starting with a well meaning New Jersey mayor (Jeremy Renner) and working outwards from there. But really it is not so much about the actual sting operations than it is about the characters and people involved in this whole thing. And of course just about all the character names have been changed, allowing for more creative license so they can have these characters say and do whatever they need them to say and do in order to tell their story, without having to worry about the real life people getting upset at the perceived misrepresentations of this fictional retelling of a real story.Continue Reading …