American Hustle

Christian Bale Director: David O. Russell David O. Russell

Overview

Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, and Amy Adams star in director David O. Russell's fictional period crime drama about a reckless FBI agent who recruits a con man and his alluring partner into a scheme to ensnare corrupt politicians and gangsters. Smooth-talking Irving Rosenfeld (Bale) is a hustler of the highest order. No mark is off limits for Rosenfeld, especially when his crafty partner Sydney Prosser (Adams) is by his side. When renegade FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Cooper) thrusts the deceptive duo into the treacherous world of New Jersey power players and underworld heavies, the thrill of the hunt grows too strong to resist. Meanwhile, New Jersey politician Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner) gets caught in the middle, and Rosenfeld's capricious wife Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence) holds more power than anyone could imagine. Louis C.K. and Jack Huston costar.

Product Details

Release Date:	03/18/2014
UPC:	0043396428539
Original Release:	2013
Rating:	R
Source:	Sony Pictures
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby AC-3 Surround Sound]
Time:	2:18:00
Sales rank:	17,230

Special Features

The making of American Hustle; Deleted and extended scenes

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Christian Bale	Irving Rosenfeld
Bradley Cooper	Richie DiMaso
Amy Adams	Sydney Prosser
Jeremy Renner	Carmine Polito
Jennifer Lawrence	Rosalyn Rosenfeld
Louis C.K.	Stoddard Thorsen
Michael Peña	Paco Hernandez/Sheik Abdullah
Alessandro Nivola	Anthony Amado
Jack Huston	Pete Musane
Jack Jones	Jazz Quartet Singer
Shea Whigham	Carl Elway
Elisabeth Röhm	Dolly Polito
Paul Herman	Alfonse Simone
Saïd Taghmaoui	Irv's Sheik Plant
Matthew Russell	Dominic Polito
Thomas Matthews	Francis Polito
Adrian Martinez	Julius
Anthony Zerbe	Senator Horton Mitchell
Colleen Camp	Brenda
Steve Gagliastro	Agent Schmidt
Chris Tarjan	Agent Stock
Zachariah Supka	Young Irv
Christy Scott Cashman	Cosmo Interview Girl
Simon Hamlin	Photographer
Martie Barylick	Helen
Dawn Olivieri	Cosmo Girl
Becki Dennis	Nanny
Jay Giannone	Suburban Businessman
Arthur Birnbaum	Queens Businessman
Rob Dininni	Desperate Businessman
Michael Fennimore	Car Salesman
Corbo Dante	Danny Rosenfeld
Santino Corbo	Danny Rosenfeld
Bo Cleary	FBI Agent #1
Greg Maxwell	FBI Agent #2
Mickey O'Keefe	FBI Agent #3
Aaron Flanders	Elway's Friend
Erica McDermott	Carl Elway's Assistant
Alura Carbrey	Elizabeth Polito
Kayla Feeney	Lorna Polito
Shannon Halliday	Doreen Polito
Volieda Webb	Melora
Patsy Meck	Richie's Mother
Abby Lavin	Richie's Girlfriend
Damien Di Paola	Baron Owner
Paul Campbell	Baron's Patron
Jeff Avigian	Disco Dancer
Stacy Hock	Girl Outside Stall
Michael Trigg	Baron's Manager
Richard Heneks	Al Kalowski
Ted Zalewski	Carpenter
Elias Birnbaum	Carpenter Apprentice
Armen Garo	Dick Helsing
Sal DiMino	Lou Salvano
Gary Craig	Jerry Catone
Barry Primus	Tellegio's Consigliere
Sonny Gordon	Tellegio's Consigliere
Deva Mahal	Funk Band Singer
Dicky Eklund	Street Thug #1
Sean Eklund	Street Thug #2
Charley Broderick	Rep. John 0'Connell
Richard Donnelly	Rep. Sanders
Gary Zahakos	Congressman Keshoygan
Frank Geraci	Simone's Gang #1
Melson Alford	Simone's Gang #2
Melissa McMeekin	Simone's Gang #3
JJ Wright	Divorce Lawyer
Bob Taraschi	Rep. Stelford

Technical Credits

David O. Russell

Eric Warren Singer

David O. Russell	Director,Screenwriter
Alan E. Baumgarten	Editor
Judy Becker	Production Designer
Matthew Budman	Executive Producer
Patrick Capone	Cinematographer
Jay Cassidy	Editor
Bradley Cooper	Executive Producer
Danny Elfman	Score Composer
Megan Ellison	Producer
Jonathan Gordon	Producer
Lindsay Graham	Casting
Andy Horwitz	Co-producer
Susan Jacobs	Musical Direction/Supervision
Mark Kamine	Co-producer
Mandy Moore	Choreography
George Parra	Executive Producer
Jesse Rosenthal	Art Director
Charles Roven	Producer
Linus Sandgren	Cinematographer
Gerard Sava	Camera Operator
Eric Warren Singer	Executive Producer,Screenwriter
Peter Soldo	Asst. Director
Crispin Struthers	Editor
Richard Suckle	Producer
Tom Williams	Sound Mixer
Mary Vernieu	Casting
Michael Wilkinson	Costumes/Costume Designer
Michele Ziegler	Associate Producer,Asst. Director

Scene Index

Disc #1 -- American Hustle
1. Scene 1 [7:12]
2. Scene 2 [6:58]
3. Scene 3 [9:57]
4. Scene 4 [7:17]
5. Scene 5 [7:48]
6. Scene 6 [9:23]
7. Scene 7 [8:20]
8. Scene 8 [9:17]
9. Scene 9 [9:11]
10. Scene 10 [8:41]
11. Scene 11 [3:14]
12. Scene 12 [5:41]
13. Scene 13 [8:24]
14. Scene 14 [10:10]
15. Scene 15 [8:39]
16. Scene 16 [9:25]

Menu

Disc #1 -- American Hustle
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   Languages
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         English
         English Audio Descriptive Service
      Subtitles
         English*
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   Scene Selections
   Special Features
      The Making Of American Hustle
      Deleted And Extended Scenes
         Play All
            Cry British
            Brick
            Carmine On Stage Singing
            Backhand Like A Whip
            Bad Sign
            Stoop To Conquer
            Live And Let Die
            Evil Ways
            Carmine On The Street
            Richie Is Duped
            Carmine Returns Home
      Previews
         The Monuments Men
         Inside Llewlyn Davis
         Sony "Be Moved"
         Pompeii
         Captain Phillips

Editorial Reviews

"Some of this actually happened," a title card cheekily informs us at the beginning of David O. Russell's crime comedy American Hustle, and so begins a wild and most entertaining tale of duplicity and deceit -- a movie that recalls the Coen brothers' Fargo and Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas in its crackling energy, the freedom it feels to embroider on real life, and the joy it takes in presenting singular and outlandish characters. The lively opening introduces us to the major players: There's Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale), a pudgy, balding owner of dry-cleaning businesses and a born con man with a motormouth and the persuasive skills of a cult leader; his girlfriend and partner Sydney (Amy Adams); and ambitious FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper). As Irving and Richie trade insults, each trying to impress Sydney, they prepare to pass a bribe to Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner), a prominent New Jersey mayor. When the payoff goes awry, we learn in flashback how these people got to this point. It turns out that Irving and Sydney are quite in love, and spent a few years scamming marks out of thousands of dollars as Sydney played the part of a British aristocrat with connections to high-powered banking interests in London. One day they try to con Richie, who promptly busts the duo and demands that they work for a sting operation involving capturing politicians taking bribes. The "hustle" of the title is a deft pun that recalls discos, the act of scamming people, and, most importantly for Russell, the idea of doing whatever you need to do to survive. It becomes clear that Irving hustles partly to protect his young adopted son, whose boozy, extroverted, borderline-sociopathic biological mother Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence) also happens to be his wife. For all his skills as a con man, Irving is entirely enthralled by her incessant manipulations. This is perhaps best explained by the old adage that if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, or by the fact that, as embodied by Jennifer Lawrence, Rosalyn is just smoking hot. There is much to enjoy in the twisty story line cooked up by Russell and co-writer Eric Warren Singer, but the ceaseless pleasure of American Hustle lies in watching Bale, Adams, Cooper, and Lawrence go out on a limb with characters that would be cartoonish if they weren't skilled enough to keep them grounded in genuine emotional truths. Christian Bale has never been an actor who smiles easily (his propensity for dourness made him the ideal Batman for Christopher Nolan), but as the gargantuanly charismatic Irving he gives his most fun performance since he embodied Bret Easton Ellis' homicidal maniac Patrick Bateman in American Psycho. He's warm in a way Bale doesn't often allow himself to be -- it's as if playing a character with a prominent potbelly and a comb-over as elaborate as the movie's plot made him realize that Irving doesn't brood but instead fearlessly puts himself out into the world. He's matched by Amy Adams, who is really playing two parts in the film: Sydney and the British character she invents in order to help with the scam. Those very obvious alternate personalities make her character the most prominent example of one of the movie's major themes -- that people are always pretending to be someone else in order to get what they want. That's tough to pull off without seeming more like a construction than a character, but Adams handles this tricky role with award-worthy skill. She's sexy -- something underscored constantly by Michael Wilkinson's inspired and period-appropriate costumes -- and strong. Adams keeps us guessing as to the character's true feelings for Irving and Richie because she makes Sydney's ability to snap quickly and completely into another persona thoroughly believable. As good as all of the actors are at playing outlandishly colorful people, everything gets even more vibrant when Jennifer Lawrence's Rosalyn is onscreen. She is the straw that stirs this already potent drink, getting laughs in unexpected ways -- she puts a spin on a classic Bond theme that will forever alter what you see in your mind when you hear it -- and keeping us on our toes exactly as she does with Irving, whom she knows she has wrapped around her finger. David O. Russell directed the 23-year-old actress to an Oscar in Silver Linings Playbook, a movie that served up a showstopping scene at the end of act two that let Lawrence deliver a monologue full of humor and attitude. He's constructed a similar moment this time around involving a hilarious speech she gives Bale that kicks the film's surprising final act into gear. It's another chance for Lawrence to show off her preternatural charisma, and if Russell is smart he should just continue writing scenes like this for her for as long as she agrees to keep coming back. American Hustle proves that Silver Linings Playbook was no fluke and that David O. Russell has become one of the most dependable filmmakers alive when it comes to fashioning smart, funny, and grandly entertaining movies. He's learned how to hustle in a Hollywood system he seemed ill-suited to play along with in the early years of his career, and like Irving and Sydney, he's focused on protecting what he cares about most. Thankfully, in contrast to his characters here, he's not in it primarily for material gain, but for artistic vision. American Hustle may be full of people faking, but Russell is the real deal.

All Movie Guide - Perry Seibert