I am always late to the party….but you know when you are too cheap to pay babysitting for going to a movie, well, you sacrifice seeing a lot of movies. Lucky for us tonight, sleepover so we decided to go see this what the big whoop was with the Golden Globe Best Picture and Oscar Nominated American Hustle. WISE CHOICE.
The plot is a fictional story leading up to the very real ABSCAM sting operation in the late 70’s and 80’s. Confused? While the story and characters are based on what happened – its NOT a historical account. It focuses on a con-artist, his partner girlfriend, an ambitious FBI agent using the con artist for a major sting operation, the con man’s passive aggressive wife and a slightly crooked politician who truly is trying to help the people he cares about. Yeah I know, ABSCAM, yawn, but I tell you there are twists and turns leading up the big Sting operation where you are trying to truly figure out who’s zooming who! Literally until the end of the movie, I was wondering about where their love and loyalties truly lie among the characters and how the heck the sting would go down.
Here’s the trailer :
I LOVED how the characters expressed themselves. The writing was just brilliant, it was verbose with a purpose. Not a word left out or or added just for the sake of talking. I genuinely got to know the characters and felt emotions for them. The sting set up had many twists and turns. It kept me on my toes. And oh the comic relief….Wayne Dyer reference made me LOL, really, so entertaining on so many levels.
I grew up in the 70’s and let me tell you, anytime I see a film set in that era I am reminded of the GREATNESS of music of the time. Dare I say, I do think it as the absolute BEST music decade. One of my favorite scenes was Jennifer Lawrence singing and dancing to a rocking song, while scrubbing down her house in her Playtex gloves. Oh and you have NOT lived until you have seen fat Christian Bale with his bad comb over singing Tom Jones at a party. Downloading the soundtrack now.
The cast was truly amazing – and they all had some fabulous hair going on. Besides Christian’s really bad comb over, you had Bradley Coopers tight curls, Jeremy Renner’s bouffant man-do and the beautiful Cosmo looking hair of the ladies. It was a time of low cut gowns and clingy dresses. Disco dresses, velvet suits, plaid and polyester…..man those clothes brought back memories of older sister and brother and other family members back in ’78. The wardrobe really brought out the personalities of each character and truly helped tell their stories. But the acting…yep no wonder all the awards and nominations.
The sets and decor were so realistic. Corded phones, shiny wall paper, overdone decor…I have not thought about the plush yellow crushed velvet or HORRIBLE globe looking lamps with the shades with the gold trim in the living room of my youth in a while! LOVED BEING TAKEN BACK THERE!
This movie was a totally fun ride – speaking of rides, I sure miss the GIANT cars like that sweet blue Cadillac Eldorado in the film. I love me a land yacht, learned to drive in a Buick La Sabre – same size as the Caddy El D. EVERY time I would make a right hand turn in the La Sabre, that back passenger’s side tire would go up over the curb. Mr Bale, you could drive me anywhere in that sweet ride, fat tummy, bad suit, bald hair and all.
I think one of my most favorite aspects of the film was the theme of and the “grayness” of life. Its truly NOT black and white and people do tend to see what they want to see. And you truly do NOT have to be a child of the 70’s to fully enjoy.
Anyhoo, if you have not seen this film. Do yourself a favor, and GO. Great Story. Plot Twists. Fabulous Writing. Brilliant Acting. Gorgeous Sets and Costumes. What more do you want?
Have you seen American Hustle yet? What do you think
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I saw it on Saturday. I can see why the critics were all aflutter about it. Every character was so extreme and quirky. The costumes made me roll my eyes. Between the men with the ruffled sleeves, jewelry and hairspray and the bra-less women, you have to wonder how everyone lost their minds during that period of time! Being involved in Jersey politics, my grandma worked with one of the politicians involved in ABSCAM. I vaguely remember it. I appreciated the tag in the front of the movie that said “some of theses things happened” rather than the claim “based on actual events.” It made you understand that it was intended to be comical. I thought it was alright, but a little wordy. After a while my mind started wandering.
I have heard that people thought it was wordy. I loved it…… I agree the um, yeah some of this happened was PERFECT. My dad wore the suits that Renner was wearing LOL.
I loved this movie. Those ladies had a lot of confidence to wear those dresses. I was a kid living n Jersey when ABSCAM went down. Too young to even know what it was. Just remember it on TV News all the time. Loved this movie!!
It was here are my boobs LOL. And all so clingy…yep that was the 70’s…though most people’s plunging necklines were NOT so super model low! Fun movie!
I absolutely loved it! I completely envy the women’s hair and dresses. I thought it was a tad bit long, but a great movie.
Man those clothes…..so many memories lol. I loved every second. I need a stylist!