American Hustle

This was another great film from David O. Russell.
Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) has always ripped people off. When he was younger, he would purposefully throw rocks in the windows of businesses so they would go to his father's window business for repairs. Now, as an adult, in addition to several dry cleaners and the window repair business, he also does flimsy investments. His scam business really kicks off after Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) decides to get on his side. She was a former stripper turned secretary at Vogue. Her disguise is also great as someone reputable from Britain.
They also begin an affair despite Irving having a wife, Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence) who is completely off her rocker.
But then, an FBI agent, Ritchie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper, great), catches them. Instead of immediately sentencing them to prison time, he wants them to help him get people. Bigger people. Politicians. The Mob. Stuff like that.
It gets complicated from here. The beloved mayor of Camden, Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner) is a target and he leads them to the mob connections. Then, the FBI gets a Sheik (Michael Pena)--also an undercover FBI agent involved--which will give them money to rebuild Atlantic City which will be great for New Jersey's economy. The Sheik will give them the necessary money but he must become a citizen immediately, which leads to bribes from representatives and even one senator.
But Irving forms a friendship with Carmine and doesn't want him to go down but naturally, he still wants to avoid jail time. But he tries to tell him. Which ends in a fight because Irving ruined everything Carmine had worked so hard for.
In the meantime, Ritchie also has an interesting relationship with his boss, Stoddard Thorsen (Louis C.K.) even beating him up once because Stoddard isn't the most supportive of his plans.
But everything goes wrong. They finally get the chance to bust the head of the Mob, Victor Tellegio (the unbilled awesome cameo from Robert de Niro), by meeting with his lawyer. The money is wired to the account and the lawyer's confession is recorded. Ritchie is thrilled with himself. But the money is not deposited into the account they thought it would be. The money is used as leverage. It is returned in exchange for a shorter sentence for Carmine and Ritchie's career is basically over because he messed up. He was out hustled by the best of them. It was enough to shock me.
There are other plot points, mostly involved Rosalyn. She is crazy, constantly setting the house on fire. My favorite is after Irving receives a microwave as a present from Carmine. Rosalyn jokes about how she was told not to put metal in there, but she does anyway and the thing bursts into flame. She, then, yells to her young son to get the fire extinguisher, but not that one, it's empty. She listens in on her husband's private business calls and nearly gets him killed when she tells her mob boyfriend that Irving receives calls from the IRS.
Ritchie and Sydney (or Edith, her British name) also have an interesting relationship. They almost have sex several times, despite her being with Irving and him having a fiance that he doesn't particularly seem to like. One of the funniest scenes is after she touches his face and then he backs away holding her bare foot. Then, when he finds out that she's actually Sydney Prosser from Albuquerque, he is shocked. That is easily the best Bradley Cooper scene ever, better than his performance from Silver Linings Playbook.
The film ends with Rosalyn and Irving getting a divorce, thank goodness, and though it is only his adopted son, Irving has primary custody with Rosalyn (who should have never had a child in the first place), still carrying on with her Mob boyfriend, visitation rights.
The actors are brilliant with Bale gaining tons of weight and looking ugly on screen, with a horrific comb-over and ridiculous posture. Adams has no problems with showing ample cleavage and can master an accent with convincing realism. Cooper looks good in that crazy, tight curled hairstyle and screams at people and is hungry for sex but never actually gets any. Lawrence is always done up, with her flawless hair and perfectly polished nails and cigarettes flaunting from her month and messy house. Though she reads articles, she is stupid when it comes to the dangerous world her husband lives in. And you can almost believe Renner as the happy family man. This film certainly deserves to have all four main actors nominated for Oscars more than Russell's previous film, Silver Linings Playbook.
The set, as this film does occur during the 1970s, and costumes are also fabulous and odd. I'm glad those fashion statements have passed. 
These people are not good nor do they redeem themselves in any way, but it was enjoyable nevertheless and the twists and turns throughout are excellent and can leave you speechless. This is certainly one of the best films of the year. Grade: A