American Hustle

What Took So Long?

One of the first news stories I remember ever paying attention to was the ABSCAM scandal circa 1980. Many times over the intervening decades I wondered why a story so fruit for adaptation never made it to the big or small screen: the FBI, so the story goes, enlisted the help of a small time con man to entrap members of Congress in a fake bribery-for-political-influence scam.

Evidently there was a film planned soon after the story broke which was to star the dream team of John Belushi as the con man, and Dan Aykroyd as the FBI Agent in charge, but it was derailed by Belushi's demise.

By the time that American Hustle hit theaters,  over thirty years had passed since ABSCAM was in the headlines, the Middle East is a very different place, and the idea that big money buys political influence is hardly considered revelatory. And, American Hustle merely proclaims "Some of This Actually Happened" in the opening, despite being closer to actual events than most films that claim to be "Based on a True Story".

Director David O, Russel is at the top of his game here, and the ensemble cast of Amy Adams, Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Renner, and Jennifer Lawrence show that with good performances - excellent ones in fact - you can breath life into a story that to all appearances had gone stale. Even the soundtrack seems fresh, avoiding the most cliche disco hits in favor of less often, but no less period evocative cuts.