American Hustle // DVD Review

The 12 films nominated for Best Film at this year’s Oscars represented the strongest field in recent memory. From the technical brilliance of Gravity via the white-knuckle realism of Captain Phillips to the unflinching brutality of eventual winner 12 Years a Slave, every one was a contender and every one was a joy in its own way. For me, though, the pick of the pack was David O. Russell's American Hustle. This semi-true account of the FBI’s late 70s "Abscam" honey-trap operation has similarity with Russell's 2012 awards-magnet Silver Linings Playbook; it is a perfectly judged balance of dark and light, being laugh-out-loud funny in places and pitch-black tragic in others without either feeling off-tone. Deceit and deception riddle every scene, every character and every relationship in the film, so we're never entirely sure what’s real and what’s hustle, nor whether we're headed for a happy ending or an almighty clusterfuck. It's this schizophrenic unpredictability that kept me hooked throughout. Ever aware that the heart of American Hustle is a love story, we’re kept guessing as to who it's between. It's an impressive tight-rope act conjured by great scripting and tight direction of a flawless cast, all of whom (Bale, Cooper, Adams and Lawrence) were Oscar nominated - unsuccessfully, as it happens - in their respective categories. We’re also reminded that Robert De Niro can still be a genuinely chilling screen presence when he's not doing shit like Little Fockers.

It may have lost the awards-season race to more serious or spectacular runners, but American Hustle is my favourite film of the year so far.

Jay Freeman

The 12 films nominated for Best Film at this year’s Oscars represented the strongest field in recent memory. From the technical brilliance of Gravity via the white-knuckle realism of Captain Phillips to the unflinching brutality of eventual winner 12 Years a Slave, every one was a contender and every one was a joy in its own way. For me, though, the pick of the pack was David O. Russell's American Hustle.// This semi-true account of the FBI’s late 70’s "Abscam" honey-trap operation has similarity with Russell's 2012 awards-magnet Silver Linings Playbook; it is a perfectly judged balance of dark and light, being laugh-out-loud funny in places and pitch-black tragic in others without either feeling off-tone. Deceit and deception riddle every scene, every character and every relationship in the film, so we're never entirely sure what’s real and what’s hustle, nor whether we're headed for a happy ending or an almighty clusterfuck. It's this schizophrenic unpredictability that kept me hooked throughout.// Ever aware that the heart of American Hustle is a love story, we’re kept guessing as to who it's between. It's an impressive tight-rope act conjured by great scripting and tight direction of a flawless cast, all of whom (Bale, Cooper, Adams and Lawrence) were Oscar nominated - unsuccessfully, as it happens - in their respective categories. We’re also reminded that Robert De Niro can still be a genuinely chilling screen presence when he's not doing shit like Little Fockers.//

It may have lost the awards-season race to more serious or spectacular runners, but American Hustle is my favourite film of the year so far.