First off, I will admit that the first hour is slower than I expected. Because there really was never any danger or threat of danger to any of the characters at any time, watching the set up can come off a bit tiresome. American Hustle or more to the point, David O. Russell wants to be thought of in the same way most people worship Martin Scorsese. It's clear that Hustle derives a lot from Scorsese's more iconic Mob movies like Goodfellas and C a s i n o  and Russell does do a good job of tapping into that. There are a handful of scenes that scream Scorsese in it's construction and the camera work is also reminiscent of his style. But what keeps it from attaining such lofty status in my eyes is that there are quite a few comedic moments that are funny and that's something you would never find in a Scorsese flick. It sounds like I'm knocking Hustle for that. I actually like the humor and it was probably the best stuff in the movie for me.

There is a lot to like beyond the humor of course. First off, everyone on screen owns their character and they are fantastic in their roles. Christian Bale was awesome, as was Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner and Bradley Cooper. But it was Jennifer Lawrence that kept me glued to my chair. Amazing. But out of all the actors, I thought Louis C.K. was the funniest, ironically enough all unintentional. But the way he delivered his lines while trying to finish his fishing story did have me laughing. Robert De Niro's cameo was a nice surprise and something I wasn't expecting as he was never billed to appear. It was ironic that as I was watching Hustle play out, I kept saying to myself "why the f*ck isn't De Niro in this?". A bigger cameo shock was seeing Anthony Zerbe pop up. I thought he was dead for the last 20 years. Ack!

Anyway, if you like Mafia movies or Con Artist films, which this is, you will get a kick out of seeing the entire con building to it's eventual reveal at the end, which for me paid off, which I was concerned with because the set up was so long and you just never can tell who exactly is conning who, which keeps you guessing till the very end. Definitely worth a Rent. Film looks great and boast an awesome soundtrack too.

Why does search not work? Had to find my review by massive amounts of picks.

Anyway, I saw a different kind of movie... didn't care for it one bit.

My Review

Maybe not the 3D, but just the look and feel...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DSBz-7BZeE