American Hustle was Weak Sauce

HUMOR BY ELLA STEINBECK

American Hustle. Did you love it? Did you hate it? It seems as though we as a people are split 50/50.  Did you think that whatever David O’Russell was doing in American Hustle, Martin Scorsese had already done bigger and better and you that you were watching a bad Chinese designer knock-off ?

I fall into the “hate it” group, even though I love a good China Town fake bag as much as the next girl. Before you agree or disagree hear me out.  The first scene where Christian Bale is doing his hair was AMAZING! I saw that scene and thought “OMG this is gonna be AWESOME!.” The movie went downhill from there.  I mean REALLY downhill. All the way down to Snoresville.

Dear David O’Russell, – I LOVED Three Kings, I Heart Huckabees  and Silver Linings Playbook. So what happened? I WANTED to love this film. It was stylish and had a fun cast. Louis CK was a great addition! Christian Bale is as good an actor as Meryl Streep. But as a movie as a whole? Oscar worthy it wasn’t.

Now, when people say they loved this film I wonder what they loved. Were they blinded by smoke and mirrors and Amy Adam’s cleavage? Was it Jennifer Lawrence’s smelly nail polish that went straight to their heads?  Was it because the media went on and on and on and on about this film in such a way that you were seduced before even going to the theater? I think that’s what happened. We were told it was spectacular before going and many of us were afraid to form our own opinion. I have the same theory for the movie American Beauty. Please don’t get me started about how people who are completely out of the touch with the real world are forming our viewing options and telling us how freaking fabulous things are. They are not! Don’t tell me it’s Dom when it’s really watered down ginger ale.

David O’Russell is a heavy hitting director. Silver Linings Playbook left me crying and laughing all at the same time. Three Kings made me feel horrible and sick at the end because I REALLY understood what had been going on in Kuwait for the first time. I Heart Huckabees left me feeling

like I loved Lily Tomlin. American Hustle left me heart broken, like I had just wasted 138 minutes on a story that was never told. I was bored. I started complaining it was taking too long and I was only 45 minutes in. By ninety minutes I started thinking I should really spend more time with my Rosetta Stone learning Mandarin than  spending time at the movies. I felt patronized and my intelligence was marginalized. I don’t go to the movies to feel insulted. I go to have my eyes opened. I go because I love being surprised by what great cinema can create. I go to the movies to see chances being taken and other lives lived. I go to see what I cannot imagine.

I love a great movie! I want to see great movies! In this world of Transformers, Carrie (the re-make), bad vampire movies that make no sense unless you are 15, and other plot-less disappointments…WE DO NOTICE! Give us real movies with real characters that are fresh, innovative, and imaginative.