Watched it again due to the praise the film has been getting, to see if I missed something. I added half a star- to make it 3 stars for the film, but I still find nothing special about it. I no longer feel alone after reading this article:
www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/01/28/american-hustle-is-overrated.html
A film that brings together the greatest actress of all time, and the most popular female movie star of the past 50 years calls for a major movie event. Yet Harvey Weinstein, in his greediness during awards season, opted to wait until the very last days of the year to release the film as an Oscar qualifying run in New York City and Los Angeles. What the film needed was a wide release, maybe Thanksgiving or just a couple weeks…
Very rare to see a film about the love lives of two divorcees, but even more rare to see a film that honestly portrays the intricacies of a bruised heart. Julia Louis-Dreyfus and James Gandolfini are fantastic, along with the rest of the cast who all managed to develop full characterizations even with limited screen time. The screenplay is a gem. Definitely one of the best of 2013.
Go for its transcending visual effects, but stay for the moving story of a woman's rebirth. How do you find the will to survive when you no longer have a center of meaning in your life? The simplicity and subtleness of the film's narrative, a striking contrast to its tremendous setting, proves that Hollywood can still make blockbusters with brain and heart still intact. It restores film as an artform, and proves that cinema could be as beautiful, if not more beautiful, than any modern art.
