"American Hustle" begins with Christian Bale — a man whose body transformations and weight swings elicit reactions ranging from admiration to alarm — staging an elaborate, nay, impressive combover to hide his baldness. I'll admit that while I have seen men with combovers, I've never actually seen the process by which a man masks his male pattern baldness through compensation with the hair that remains.
It is indeed a marvel to behold, a sequence that seems to last for several minutes while Bale glues a tuft of hair to his head, carefully combs and teases the hair on the sides until it stands on end, then carefully combs and swirls it until it resembles something that aims to approximate a full, luxurious head of hair but never quite does.
And so goes "American Hustle," a fun and engaging con flick set in the '70s that is often entertaining to watch — at its best, it's impossible to look away — but is also itself a bloated, tired con.
Bale plays Irving Rosenfeld, a con man who, despite his paunchy gut and ridiculous hair, manages to snag not one but two really classy, yet very likely completely insane, dames. At work, he has Sydney (Amy Adams), whose good looks, cascading locks and plunging (read non-existent) neckline sway their marks into writing checks for loans that Irving knows won't come to pass.
At home, it's Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence), a young bundle of nerves who leaps headlong into trouble of all kinds and seems to relish the chaos it causes. Irving married her largely for the sake of her son, Danny (played by twins Sonny and Danny Corbo) and now suffers the consequences on a daily basis.
When Irv finally catches the eye of the authorities, it's a big one, in the guise of FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper), whose name is pronounced "duh-masso," which, you know, kind of describes him well. He's largely a clod who curls his permed hair and enlists Irv and Sydney in a scheme to entrap a series of politicians in an investment scheme.
Hoping to stay out of trouble, Irv and Sydney play along but ultimately find themselves over their heads when they target the mayor of Camden, N.J. (a fantastic Jeremy Renner), a good man with a large family who has no criminal ambitions but merely aims to rebuild Atlantic City to its former glory and bring prosperity to his depressed town.
Things grow complicated when organized crime gets involved and Irv, Richie and Sydney soon find themselves in too deep. Things are further complicated when Rosalyn joins the gang and secrets start getting spilled.
Director David O. Russell packs the film with '70s aesthetics to the point of choking the audience. Golds, browns, velour suits and large kinky, curly hairstyles dominate. The film's central con is maybe overly complex and, at times, bogged down, although the film's climax is a pretty nifty bit of work (but you really have to be paying attention to get it).
The performances range from mostly good to great, with Bale faring the worst of the other leads, weight gain aside. The ladies especially stand out, and it's not just cleavage I'm talking about (though, hey, it's there on full display, too). A scene between the two in a restroom as they bicker over Irv simply crackles, and both ladies are phenomenal.
The film certainly drags in spots, and the entire con flips on its head for the climax, but while "Hustle" stumbles at times, it's often on the money.