August 11, 2025 • 37 mins
This podcast episode meticulously examines the film "American Hustle," a cinematic endeavor that seamlessly intertwines themes of deception, ambition, and chaos. The discussion is ignited by the film's exceptional ensemble cast, featuring notable performances by Christian Bale, Amy Adams, and Bradley Cooper, which contribute to its multifaceted narrative. We delve into the intricate dynamics between the characters, particularly highlighting the pivotal role of Amy Adams as the grounding force amidst the tumultuous events that unfold. Furthermore, we explore the unique blend of humor and gravitas that characterizes David O. Russell's directorial style, prompting reflections on the film's tonal oscillations and their impact on viewer engagement. Join us as we dissect the artistry behind "American Hustle," evaluating its merits and idiosyncrasies, while also contemplating its place within the broader context of contemporary cinema.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
And you could just see hisface drop and his like body language
go.
It's just like where's myheart pills?
Yeah.
(00:20):
Welcome to the what's up Everypodcast where we fashion ourselves
cinematic judge and Jerry.
My name is JJ Crowder, herewith my co host Alec Burgess.
Let's get it.
We appreciate you tuning in.
Go ahead, hit that followsubscribe like bell notification
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(00:42):
on what we're watching, whatwe're reviewing, what we're talking
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(01:04):
we're not asking much.
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a movie once a quarter towatch that we have to watch.
And we have watched somestupid doozies because of that.
But yeah, JJ only fans page coming.
So a little bit more money forthat as well.
But yeah, my only fit it'djust be me brushing my beard.
(01:27):
That'll be my only fans.
And on that weird ass note,let's jump into an equally weird
ass movie to get into week twoof our August Amy Adams fest.
We've moved past the singingand dancing and moved into some interesting
here.
But as you can see by thepicture we're if you're watching,
(01:49):
if you're listening now, youget to know it's American Hustle.
It was released December 20, 2013.
It was written by Eric Warrensinger and David O. Russell.
It was directed by David O.Russell, stars Christian Bale, Amy
Adams, Bradley Cooper,Jennifer Lawrence, Jeremy Renner,
Louis ck, Jack Houston,Michael Pena, Alessandro Navola and
(02:11):
Paul Herman.
It's about a con man.
Irving Rosenfeld along withhis seductive partner Sidney Prosser
is forced who's worked who areforced to work for a wild FBI agent,
Richie Damaso, who pushes himin the world of Jersey power brokers
and the mafia.
That was a pretty in depthsynopsis there and pretty spot on
if I have to say.
(02:31):
As far as synopsis go fromIMDb but.
All right, Alec, this isanother your picks, my friend.
And I am wildly curious tohear why you picked it and what you.
What.
What you think of this movie.
Oh, I love this movie.
I picked it because I don'twatch it enough.
It's one that I always seem toforget exists.
(02:54):
And then whenever I watch it,I'm just tickled the entire time,
giggling, laughing.
Bradley Cooper kills it.
And he's just the tip of the iceberg.
Amy Adams.
Fantastic.
Then you add in ChristianBale, Jeremy Renner, just everybody
else in Hollywood who shows upand does an amazing job.
And then I also like this.
(03:14):
This is what I feel likeMartin Scorsese would do if he ever
did comedies, is we would havefar more of the American Hustle vibe
because it's.
It's got a foot in that, youknow, mob gangster, Godfather, Goodfellas
kind of feel to it.
And then the other foot isjust in the most ridiculous shit
that, like James Gunn,Guardians of the Galaxy.
(03:36):
Ridiculous.
Yeah.
And it plays it extremely well.
You.
You shouldn't.
It shouldn't be this goodbased on what the story is and then
the content of the movie.
But I love it.
I think it's phenomenal.
I. I don't watch it enoughbecause I don't.
I just don't know why.
And so when it came Amy as.
But I was like, oh, I knowwhat I'm doing.
American Hustle, absolutely, man.
(04:01):
I. I'm with you.
I love this movie.
I think after I give my.
My brief intro of what I thinkof this movie, we can talk down into
one of my only issues with themovie, which is petty and it's me.
But, yeah, I. I listen.
David O. Russell is aninteresting dude and his movies are
very interesting.
I've enjoyed a lot of hismovies, even back to, like, Three
(04:21):
Kings, which is.
I don't know if you've seenthat, but that's.
That's a weird one.
But, yeah, like, I reallyenjoy him.
And this one was in.
In terms of.
He's another one that you.
You talk about Scorsese, andScorsese is really great at getting
together some massive ensemble casts.
And David O. Russell, to your.
(04:43):
You know, to your point, hedoes a very good job of that, too,
these days.
Like, you look back over thelast handful of his movies, man,
and typically there's alwayssome carryovers just like Scorsese.
So I think it's a very goodcomparison for directors and writers
and things like that.
So.
But yeah, like, this movie's great.
I think the Cast kills it.
I mean, I even think, like,listen, I'm not.
(05:04):
And I've said this on thepodcast a few times.
Christian Bale is not myfavorite, but I really enjoy him
in this movie.
Like, the fact that this dudecan look the way he looks, like his
little paunch and he's baldingand he's looks a little goofy and
talks real weird and is justkind of a weird dude, but is still
able to do this con man at ahigh level.
Man, I love that.
(05:24):
I love the.
The against the grain becauseall washed out.
Because typically, it's likeyou get a con man and they're all
smooth and, like, you know,you think like, catch me if you can
or something like that.
Everybody's like, smooth again.
But this dude is not that.
Like, and I. I realize that heuses Amy Adams as, like, that kind
of piece of the caricature.
(05:45):
Right.
But it's still.
I just love the dichotomy ofthose two and, like, how it works.
And then, yeah, throw inJennifer Lawrence, you're like, what
the is going on?
Don't put any men on thescience machine.
Yeah.
And you're right.
Like, you take it this.
That should be very serious.
Like, you got all sorts ofcriminal going on, but it's just
(06:08):
funny as.
So it's hilarious.
Yeah, it's great.
So, yeah, I'm with you.
I. I really enjoyed this movie.
I will say that I have, like,the only thing that I have.
And again, this is all me.
Like, a lot of people thinkthis is peak David O. Russell, but
I think Silver LiningsPlaybook is peak David O. Russell,
and this movie was his followup to that.
(06:31):
And so I had a hard time,like, letting go of the fact that
Silver Linings Playbook is oneof my favorite movies.
Like, it's top 25 for me, for sure.
And this movie's up in thatballpark like it wants to be.
But I always compare it toSilver Linings Playbook because of
the carryover cast with, youknow, Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley
(06:54):
Cooper.
I can't, like, break those twoapart for some reason when I watch
it.
And again, it's an.
It's a me thing becausethey're very different movies.
But at the same time, like, Ican't help but compare them.
And.
And it.
This one doesn't win in thatcomparison for me.
So it's.
That's where this.
This one falls short.
And it's so stupid that I hadto say it out loud so that when my.
(07:16):
When the rest of this reviewIs kind of tinged with a little bit
of doubt.
Just know it's because I'm a petty.
That's fair.
Yeah.
I won't hold it against youuntil I can profit from it.
There you go.
But, yeah, no, like.
Like you were saying withChristian Bale.
(07:38):
And the, you know, fact thathe looks the way he does is so great
because it's the.
It's like kind of like thereality versus the romantic.
Romanticizing of it.
Right.
Like you got Bradley Cooperplaying Damasio.
Yeah.
So something like that.
Damascus.
Yeah.
Whatever it is.
And he's.
He's 100.
The romantized version of, youknow, big bust going after the mob.
(08:03):
You know, he's raised onstories of how they took out Capone,
but he kind of missed thegolden years versus Christian Baylor's.
Like, that's not how this goes.
Yeah, stop my.
Stop everything up.
Yeah, we.
You wanted this.
Now you want.
Want more.
You want change?
(08:23):
Like, you gotta tell me whatyou want, because that's how the
plan goes.
And Christian Bale'scharacter, the Rosenthal, he's.
He's 100.
The create the problem andthen supply the solution.
We see it in the intro wherehe's breaking the windows so that
as a glass business, but he'sthe one who's moving all the pieces,
right?
And based on what the goal is.
(08:44):
That's how you create the problem.
Then sell this.
You know, sell the solution.
And you got freaking device.
Just like, well, now I want.
And now I want.
And we all know somebody like that.
Maybe not to that extreme, butjust every single time a goal is
hit it the post move.
And it's like, hey, well, nowI have to go back and undo all the
(09:06):
shit I just did.
Because what you want is now different.
And I can't do it with the.
With the pieces I put into play.
And so I love it because it'sthis kind of like reality versus
the, you know, almost the movies.
Right?
It's like, stop.
Stop it.
Stop.
Nope.
Nope.
Bad.
(09:27):
Until eventually just gets fedup with it.
It's like, hey, you too, then.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You'll be the perfect patsy.
Oh, for sure.
Yeah.
And I. I'm with you.
And I love the way that Cooper plays.
Plays this character.
Like.
And I. I'm a big fan ofBradley Cooper in general.
General.
But the way he plays thischaracter to me is like, this is
(09:49):
talking.
There it goes.
Again.
To me, talk about.
This is peak Bradley Cooper.
Like, even.
I think even this is one casewhere if you want to talk about wins
between Silver LiningsPlaybook in this for me.
Bradley Cooper steps it upeven more in this because he's phenomenal
in Silver Linings Playbook.
But that's Jennifer Lawrence'smovie, in my opinion.
This one, it's hard to say itbecause there's so much good acting
(10:13):
across the board, but thismight be Bradley Cooper's movie.
To me, just because you getthis comfort zone and I.
Let me explain.
I get.
You get in this comfort zoneof like watching Christian Bale's
character do his thing and AmyAdams stepping in and supporting
him being the actual, like,football in every play and being
able to run this.
And then you got JenniferLawrence, who's this like, loose
(10:35):
cannon that you're like, shemight some up down the road.
But then, you know, and soyou're watching all this and it's
going on and it's going on,and then all of a sudden you see
Bradley Cooper come in and themotto, and you're like, oh, he's
gonna this up.
They're on a roll, but he'sgonna mess this up.
And I love the reaction, likethe facial expressions that that
Christian Bale puts on hischaracter whenever he's having a
(10:58):
conversation with Bradley Cooper.
It just like the subtlety ofthat acting.
Like he just looks like I'mreading his mind.
And in his mind he's like, you.
You are all of this up for me.
I'm trying to help you.
And I think that's my favoritepart of this movie is watching Christian
(11:23):
Bale go, I am a genius.
I figured this out.
I got a plan and it's gonnawork because my always works.
And then d' Amato or Lawrencecome in, one of the two, and you
could just see his face dropand his like, body language go, God
damn it.
It's just like, where's myheart pills?
(11:44):
Yeah.
And it.
This movie shouldn't be asfunny as it is, like, because it's
serious.
Like, people are doing somewild ass.
But God bless America.
I. Dude, I laugh so hard atthis movie, even at the stuff that's
not necessarily supposed to befunny because of watching Christian
(12:06):
Bale's face.
Or like when Bradley Cooperand the model go full on manic and
they're just like.
It's like moving at 100 milesa minute to get.
And.
And he's just watching.
You're watching ChrisChristian Bell just sit there going,
oh, my God, what are you doing?
And then again, I think, Amy Adams.
(12:27):
I'm glad you picked this forAmy Adams, because while it's not
like a Amy Adams movie.
It doesn't work without her,you know what I mean?
Because she's just all.
For all of his ability tocreate a plan and get it into motion,
without Amy Adams, there's nota single one of them that works.
And so I love that aspect ofthat relationship too.
(12:49):
She gets a seat at the table.
Nobody's going to talk to him.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But no.
So I laugh way too hard atthis all the time, but it's because.
I think it's because it goesup and down, right?
So I have this like, reallyintense moment where Bradley Cooper
is just freaking out, right.
Christian Bale comes in, he'sgot the gun and everything, and like
(13:11):
this intense moment.
And then it like, cuts awayand he's beaten with the phone or
just call.
He's like, I want the suite at.
You know, with the Hilton orwhatever it was the Spring Hill.
Oh, yeah.
And just the.
The back and forth.
(13:32):
And like you said, it's almostlike a switch.
Like bipolar to the extreme.
And instead of making you go,wow, this guy's crazy.
I'm just laughing because Iwant to know what happens at the
end of this ice fishing story.
Same.
Same with.
But he never just sits andlistens to the story.
(13:52):
It's always at the worst timewhere he does what happened to the
ice fish.
Like just the.
The timing and it makes it socomedic and like just it.
It's like a flip of the switchand all of a sudden we're changing
directions.
And normally I hate that, butin this.
(14:13):
In this movie works, I thinkit's because Bradley Cooper, Christian
Bale, Jennifer Lawrence, evenAmy Adams to the extent is like,
it's.
It's seamless.
And even though that'stypically what pulls me out and I
hate it.
And normally in this, I'm justcackling because it's so funny and
so ridiculous while at thesame time being extremely relatable,
(14:37):
even to the point of.
You got like the.
Almost like the little meetingbetween the FBI director, his boss.
He's just sitting on the couchgoing, like, trying to defend his
actions.
And it's cutting into wherehe's just wailing on him in between.
(14:59):
And then on the couch, he'sall calm, like, well, you know, I
don't know if that's exactlywhat happened.
So good.
It is just so great that it.
I, you know, forget the fact that.
Hell, I'm just cameraproblems, dude.
For real.
So it's.
It's just works.
Yeah.
And it's crazy that it does,but it does.
(15:20):
Another reason that makes thismovie crazy.
Well, and I think this is mostDavid O. Russell helmed films like
this where he wrote, directed,like, he's fully involved, is he
is like a huge.
Like, let them do their thing.
Like a lot of.
I think there was.
I was watching an interview,this was years ago when it came out
(15:42):
that Jeremy Renner was talkingabout and Christian Bale were talking
about the fact that David O.Russell just, like, loves to let
people improv through stuff.
And I guess there was a momentwhere Christian Bale was talking
to him and he's like, excuse me.
He's making these decisionsabout the character and what he was
(16:04):
going to do in the scene.
And he's like, you do realize,David, or whatever, you know, that
this might change the, youknow, the plot down the line by,
you know, me running throughsome of these improvs that you're
loving and have me run with.
And I guess the response fromDavid or from David O. Russell was,
I hate plots.
Christian.
(16:24):
He goes, I'm all aboutcharacters and what characters do,
so if that's what yourcharacter will do, let's roll with
it.
So I think it's interesting.
And I don't.
I don't know.
Look, I. I think for me,personally, if I was an actor or
in any field, like, that kindof up in the air might give me some
heart palpitations, but itobviously works because, man, this
(16:46):
movie, and it does take someweird twists, like you said.
Like, who's expecting thisdude to just beat the shit out of
his boss and then have it bethis running gag and piece of a conversation
that is impacting how thiswhole thing goes.
That had to have been improv.
You know what I mean?
Like, there's gotta be.
And I think I appreciatedirectors from a level of Ewing piece
(17:08):
that do that, right?
That let actors be actors,because a lot of times they don't.
And so I think there's thingsthat are missed.
And so with this, there'sobviously not anything missed because,
man, these characters are welldeveloped, they're well understood,
and there's no missing whothey are and what they're doing and.
And.
And what they're trying to get.
(17:29):
But, man, they take sometwists and turns that I imagine,
at least knowing that this wasso highly improv.
Had.
To have come from a lot of,let's just make this happen.
Let's just make this happen.
So I really enjoy that Flash.
(17:51):
Sorry, I had a Flash Gordonmoment there.
No, that makes a lot of sense.
Where it was a little bitlike, I'm gonna try this.
And in this take or whateverit is.
And David.
Yep.
That works.
Okay, moving on.
And it's.
I almost seem like.
Wait, wait, wait.
(18:12):
You sure?
Yep.
No, that.
That's great.
You know, cut and wrap.
We'll move on to the next scene.
Because there.
There are moments where it's just.
It's almost just out in left field.
And I would imagine that.
Or if I had to guess, I wouldsay that almost all of Jennifer Lawrence's
(18:34):
and Christian Bale's argumentswere improv, where it's the little
fire.
It's a little fire.
It's fine.
After she put tin foil in the microwave.
Like the.
I like the aftermath of those,I would bet were entirely improv
(18:58):
on.
Sure.
Because they're just one.
So realistic.
Yeah.
And two going off in, like,four different directions at one
time where there's no waysomeone would write that.
Yeah.
Because there's no point to it.
Yeah.
Well.
And that's so.
I mean, I know we're talkingabout Amy Adams movies here, and
again, we mentioned that sheis obviously front and center in
(19:21):
this film and plays a hugepart, but at the same time, Jennifer
Lawrence does steal everyscene she's in, which is a Jennifer
Lawrence thing, I think.
Like, she's.
She's something else.
And in this movie, like, she'snot in it that much.
Like 10 minutes.
Yeah.
She's only in it a little bit.
And she's in it in this, like,as just, like, more fuel for the
(19:44):
chaos for this guy.
And, like.
But she kills it.
And to your point, like, someof the things she does, you're like,
oh, yeah, you're.
I get.
Like, you can see the allore,too, because you're also like, man,
Amy Adams in this film islike, drop dead.
Right?
And she's a chameleon that canchange to whatever.
But, man, you get JenniferLawrence and you're like, oh, I get
(20:06):
it.
Like, that level of chaos and unpredictability.
And.
And it's funny because to me,she's in this film.
Wow.
We're getting serious aboutgetting serious on filming.
Right.
And talking about this filmand the writing on this.
She's a mirror of Christian orBradley Cooper's character on the
flip side.
Right.
Like, this guy lives in chaos,and now he's got the same person
(20:30):
on either side.
He's got the one on thepersonal life now he's got this slightly
professional piece that'sdriving him from the FBI side.
But, like, it's like holy man.
Like, he just surroundshimself with chaos.
And the only thing that keepshim grounded is Amy Adams character.
You know what I mean?
She brings him back and says,okay, we can figure this out.
And it's horrid because, Imean, she knows about Jennifer.
(20:55):
It's just wild how all theplayers come together in this.
And like, she's so patient.
But you can tell she knowsthat she'll never be able to be peak
level con artist without him.
And he knows vice versa.
That's why he's always, like,trying to fix it.
It's just this interestingweave that was pulled together between
(21:16):
all these characters, whichmakes it even more fun because you're
like, what's gonna happen nowwith these two?
What's gonna happen?
Or are they gonna be in thesame room together?
That could be shitty.
You know what I mean?
And God forbid, when JenniferLawrence and Bradley Cooper's character
in the same room together,because those two are chaos demons,
dude.
And it is amazing.
(21:36):
It's fantastic.
Yeah.
But yeah, it's a good pointthat I didn't really pick up on.
Is he.
Christian Bale's getting fromboth ends.
Yeah.
And that's why Amy Adamscharacter is really central to everything.
Is she's the voice of reason.
But even she's like, let's getthe out of crazy town, dude.
Yeah.
Multiple times.
(21:56):
What are we doing?
Like, that's.
And.
But to have the confidencethat we can just run.
Yeah.
And nobody's gonna catch us.
Yeah.
Like, that is peak level confidence.
Granted.
If Damasio is the one chasing you.
Yeah.
You're.
You're scot free.
Yeah.
But if somebody else comesafter you as an ounce of brain cells,
(22:17):
then you might be in a little bit.
Of trouble for sure.
But that.
That whole thing, like, Iwould love to see.
You know, I know this is basedoff a true story, so we're not gonna
get it, but a little spin offof these two characters would have
been so cool.
That would have been amazing.
I just do it.
Ocean's Eleven type.
American Hustle.
Yeah.
(22:38):
Hilarious, dude.
I will say so.
A little.
Not necessarily a problem, butmaybe nitpicky.
Right?
We love to get nitpicky on the podcast.
Is that the casting charactersare so great that by the time we
get De Niro, I'm not impressed.
(23:02):
Yeah.
Or it's.
It's almost like, oh, I waswondering, you know, where's Joe
Pesci at?
Yeah.
Or.
And so by the time we getthere, the.
The payoff for it wasn't Therebecause everybody else is so great.
Yeah.
That De Niro seems almost likefan service.
(23:23):
Yeah.
Like it's a.
It's a, you know, adjacent mob movie.
Who are we gonna throw in there?
Robert De Niro.
We have to.
I think it's even worsebecause it feels like.
Because David O. Russell is.
Is notorious for using thesame actors a lot.
Right.
And for three or four.
(23:44):
I think De Niro's been inevery movie he's done since Silver
Linings Playbook, maybe even before.
I'd have to look.
But, like, I.
And I'm with you.
I agree 100% with what youjust said.
And I saw it from the lens of.
Not only is it because allwe're in a mobster movie, we need
a De Niro or a Pacino or a Pesci.
But instead it was, oh, it's aDavid O. Russell movie.
(24:05):
So we have to have De Niro.
So when he popped up, I waslike, ah, fuck.
I was like, you put that inthere just to give Robert De Niro
some cash and have him in yourfilm, like, because his character
was while funny.
And listen, De Niro's De Niro, right?
So it's like, we love De Niro.
He's a genius.
(24:26):
Don't mind the squeaking inthe background.
My dog always picks the worsttimes to decide to play.
But, yeah, like, so De Niro'sDe Niro.
We love having him.
But it felt forced.
It just felt unnecessary tohave De Niro in there because I don't
think it.
I. I mean, look, I just don'tthink it's.
Improve the movie all that much.
It just was like, okay, well,there's De Niro and there's this
(24:49):
character that.
Okay, it's funny because it'sDe Niro and it's.
It's fits the theme, but it's not.
It's unnecessary, at least to me.
Yeah.
So I like here just, you know,spitballing here.
I think it would have beenfunny if you did De Niro, Pesci,
and Pacino.
(25:09):
Like, they're awesome.
Like, they're the three guystogether in a way.
And so then you're leadinginto this mobster trope, even David
Russell a little bit.
But you're almost again,poking fun at yourself a little bit
or poking fun at the sourcematerial, the content.
It's not a mobster movieunless these three guys are in it.
(25:31):
And so I think that would havebeen kind of playing in.
With the same storyline I giveyou through the three of them in
but since it's just De Niro,by the time we got there, I was like,
okay, you know, it's not themenacing, you know, mobster that
it's supposed to be in thissituation because you have Michael
(25:53):
Pena sitting opposite him.
Who is it?
It's never gonna be this kindof intense scene that you're trying
for.
And so I would have leaned theother way and gone full comedy and
been like, hey, this, this,this will be funny.
Because it would have been.
You throw the three, you know,de facto mobster guys into the same
(26:15):
movie in the same scene.
That would at least make me laugh.
Oh, yeah, no, I would haveloved that.
Like, that would have beenabsolutely hilarious.
Just because you walk in, it'slike the triumvirate of mobster actors.
And yeah, that would have beenhilarious as hell.
(26:35):
And, and like you said, like,it would have really, like just leaned
right into it.
Or you do Pacino.
Not Pacino.
You do Pesci and De Niro there.
And then Pacino's the lawyer.
Oh, yeah, that would have been good.
Or even better make Pesci the lawyer.
Because then it's almost likemy cousin Vinnie.
(26:58):
Yeah.
Is that Vinnie?
That would have been funny.
That would have been hysterical.
Because he could have had thesame accent.
Like, it would have worked.
Oh, it would have been epic, dude.
Would have been epic.
Vinnie's back.
Watch this.
But then, then, then you keepwith this kind of comedic thing that's
(27:21):
going.
Yeah, yeah.
Because it's a little jarringwhen you have this big wrap up coming
or, you know, you get into thethird act of the movie and you have
the, oh, he's in trouble witheverybody now because his wife can't
keep her mouth shut, you know,and you.
It's a great payoff at the end.
Yeah.
But when half the movie isjust off the walls comedy and the
(27:43):
other half is trying to bethis kind of serious back end mob
deal.
Yeah.
It's like just pick one or theother and the comedy is working really
well.
Just keeps fear in that way.
Yeah.
Because it, it wouldn't affectthe, the payoff of the movie.
Yeah, the payoff still happens.
Yeah.
(28:04):
So you can, you can almostskip this 10 minutes of, you know,
trying to switch to this veryserious, you know, super drama.
Yeah.
Intense situation.
Man.
Yeah, No, I think it's a goodcall out.
I, I never really thoughtabout it from that perspective because
(28:26):
it does the movie king.
And this is a David O. Russellin general problem, but his movies
are just as manic as a lot ofhis characters, like, they.
They kind of give you whiplashif you're not prepared for it.
And so it's like, I'm with you.
I think keeping with thattheme of comedy and the comedic relief,
especially the oddball off thewall stuff that happens, like, yeah,
that would have been hilarious.
(28:47):
And I you.
I guarantee you could have gotat least Joe Pesci, probably Pacino.
If you really now, it wouldhave cost you.
But this movie, David O.Russell movies make tons of money.
So I don't know.
Especially at this time, man,he was killing it, dude.
Between Silver Linings, thisone Joy, man, he was knocking it
out of the park around this time.
(29:08):
So it's like, yeah, I'm with you.
I feel that.
I feel that.
But you mentioned Michael Penaand I just said it, dude.
Why is Michael Pena thegreatest bit actor on the planet?
Like, I don't know.
Just is not enough credit forwhat he does.
Seriously.
And the guy doesn't leadmovies, but God damn it, if he ain't
(29:30):
one of the greatest little.
Just insert him in here.
He can be serious.
He can be it.
Because he do.
He was great in the Shooter, Ithink is what it was called.
And then with.
He was awesome in that.
That was a ser role.
And then you get him in likeAnt man, where he steals the entire
movie with like the voiceover scenes.
And then like, like, I waslike Ant Man 2.
(29:54):
I was like, if Michael Penadoesn't get a goddamn gonna be, I'm
gonna lose my.
Because that was one of two ofthe best parts of the whole first
movie.
And then you get him insomething like this where, like people
are just able to riff off himso well.
Like, the whole line wherehe's like.
Where I think it's ChristianBale is like the.
Do you care?
You're Mexican.
And like Michael Pena's facejust like, like, this is amazing.
(30:19):
But only Michael Pena can pullthat off, I swear to God.
But he's just.
Every time I see Pena, I'mlike, okay, I can get behind this
movie.
I like it.
He doesn't have to spend a lotof time on screen either.
No, you can give him the threeminutes he got in this movie and
it's beautiful, perfect.
(30:40):
And you could give him a majorrole like he did in the Shooter series.
And again he shows up and doeshis job and it's perfect.
Yeah.
And even in Ant man, like, Antman did so well because he was there.
And then I think it was athird one where they didn't do it.
Yep.
Like he didn't show up.
I hate that movie.
(31:01):
Yeah.
Now it's.
It's no worse than Ant Man 1and Ant Man 2.
The only thing that'sdifferent is Michael.
No, Michael Pena.
I didn't get my.
I didn't get my summarizationof what's going on.
The weird.
Yeah.
It's so good.
And it's, it's just one ofthose things, like he's, he's the
perfect.
Hey, we need a spot filled.
(31:21):
Yeah.
And it's not going to besomeone who's gonna necessarily overshadow
the scene or steal it in, youknow, away.
But it's a solid, you know,just like you can't be mad at him
for coming in and showing up and.
Yeah.
Oh, great.
Solid performance.
Yeah.
Stealer.
But he makes the scenes better.
Like he's a scene improver.
(31:42):
Like, you can't.
It could be a great scene, butwhen you throw Pena in there, he's
going to make it betterwithout stealing it.
And make.
In most cases.
Now he does steal some, butlike in most cases, he just adds
to it, adds value to thescene, which is amazing.
I love it.
All right, should we rate this thing?
Let's do it.
All right.
Alex, your movie.
(32:02):
Kick us off, buddy.
What are you rate in American Hustle?
I'm giving it four and a half.
Nice.
I don't think I.
It's.
It's one of those sleeper movies.
I don't think it gets enoughtalk about credit.
And I think it might bebecause it doesn't really have a
place.
Right.
We kind of talked about it.
It's not necessarily a comedyand it's not necessarily a drama
(32:24):
and it's not necessarily amobster movie and it's not necessarily
a, you know, romance film.
But it is all of those thingsat the same time.
So it's hard to focus on.
But it is such a great watchevery single time.
And yes, I'm a four and a half.
We'll watch it again.
100.
Love it.
(32:44):
I am going to do the same thing.
You can give it a four and ahalf again.
It's not my peak David O.Russell movie, but it's.
It's second in command for sure.
I think the ensemble cast, the wonky.
Just like all over the place.
Which for me, typically, I'vebitched about that in so many movies.
Like, I am not a fan.
(33:06):
But it works in David O.Russell movies.
Like, I think he lets you.
He gives enough freedom butreigns in and keeps to the structure
of the story.
Well enough that it doesn'tderail anything and it actually adds
value from a comedic level.
And like, it keeps you on yourtoes when you're watching his movies,
like, because you don't knowexactly what's gonna happen next.
And so.
(33:27):
And there's always theselittle overarching story beats that
carry through even if they'renot talking about that particular
thing directly in the movie orit's not playing into that.
There's.
You can always see how it fitsinto the bigger picture of it, which
I think is a direct testamentto the writing and the directing
(33:50):
of David O. Russell and whyhis movies are so successful.
They can be wonky and weirdand silly, but they still follow
that story structure and keepsyou going from start to finish with
what you need to do.
Now, he has some missed beatslike we talked about with De Niro,
things like that, but overall it's.
They're very successful intelling a story in a very fun and
(34:11):
interesting way that keeps youvery engaged, in my opinion.
So, yeah, Four and a half.
I will definitely watch it again.
I.
A lot of David O. Russell'smovies on my watch at any time list
and this one's.
This one's really high up there.
So Four and a Half.
Good choice.
Good movie.
Matson missed out once again.
This guy, he's gonna wish hewas here for the first two and not.
(34:34):
Yep.
For the last two because aboutto ruin his world anyway.
Yeah, there it is.
American Hustle.
Alec, tell everybody wherethey can find us if they're not sitting
here watching us right now.
Happy to.
So like JJ said at thebeginning, this is week two of AAA
month.
That's Amy Adams August.
And we got two more weeks, twomore movies.
(34:59):
Like JJ also said is the bestplace to get involved with the podcast
is on Patreon.
You can go on.
What's our verdict?
Reviews.
Vote on movies that isabsolutely free.
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We kicked him off man of the People.
Not true.
The people spoke and theyvoted him off.
So you can vote him back on ifyou want to for the next little bit,
(35:23):
but voting is completely free.
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You can vote on both and helpdirect the content into something
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There is a little bit more,about 550 bonus videos ranging from
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(35:44):
to full length episodes ofrequested movies that nobody should
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(36:05):
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But without that, you know,not going on Patreon, not wanting
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You can still find us onYouTube where you can see our faces
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(36:27):
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Thanks, buddy.
I love it.
Yeah, go check us out in allthe places.
Even listening to us on yourway to work.
(36:49):
What a way to start your day.
That's all I'm saying.
So there it is.
We'll kick back into our nextcouple movies here.
Coming soon with Amy Adams August.
But for now, we appreciate youtuning in.
We'll catch you on the nextHasta la vista, baby.
Cinematic.
And you could just see hisface drop and his like body language
go.
It's just like where's myheart pills?
Yeah.
(00:20):
Welcome to the what's up Everypodcast where we fashion ourselves
cinematic judge and Jerry.
My name is JJ Crowder, herewith my co host Alec Burgess.
Let's get it.
We appreciate you tuning in.
Go ahead, hit that followsubscribe like bell notification
buttons help you keep up withall of our episodes.
Also go check out our Patreonwhere you can get in some behind
the scenes looks.
You can vote on movies topicsfor movies help really make decisions
(00:42):
on what we're watching, whatwe're reviewing, what we're talking
about or at the very leastwhat kicks us off into a conversation
that has nothing to do withthe movie.
But you can go check that outon our patreon at what's our verdict?
You don't have to pay to vote.
You can just jump in and votefor free.
See what we're watching if youwant the extra content.
A little bit of dough to helpsupport us.
It is expensive to run apodcast, but we don't, we're not,
(01:04):
we're not asking much.
And then if you really feelfrisky, you can actually give us
a movie once a quarter towatch that we have to watch.
And we have watched somestupid doozies because of that.
But yeah, JJ only fans page coming.
So a little bit more money forthat as well.
But yeah, my only fit it'djust be me brushing my beard.
(01:27):
That'll be my only fans.
And on that weird ass note,let's jump into an equally weird
ass movie to get into week twoof our August Amy Adams fest.
We've moved past the singingand dancing and moved into some interesting
here.
But as you can see by thepicture we're if you're watching,
(01:49):
if you're listening now, youget to know it's American Hustle.
It was released December 20, 2013.
It was written by Eric Warrensinger and David O. Russell.
It was directed by David O.Russell, stars Christian Bale, Amy
Adams, Bradley Cooper,Jennifer Lawrence, Jeremy Renner,
Louis ck, Jack Houston,Michael Pena, Alessandro Navola and
(02:11):
Paul Herman.
It's about a con man.
Irving Rosenfeld along withhis seductive partner Sidney Prosser
is forced who's worked who areforced to work for a wild FBI agent,
Richie Damaso, who pushes himin the world of Jersey power brokers
and the mafia.
That was a pretty in depthsynopsis there and pretty spot on
if I have to say.
(02:31):
As far as synopsis go fromIMDb but.
All right, Alec, this isanother your picks, my friend.
And I am wildly curious tohear why you picked it and what you.
What.
What you think of this movie.
Oh, I love this movie.
I picked it because I don'twatch it enough.
It's one that I always seem toforget exists.
(02:54):
And then whenever I watch it,I'm just tickled the entire time,
giggling, laughing.
Bradley Cooper kills it.
And he's just the tip of the iceberg.
Amy Adams.
Fantastic.
Then you add in ChristianBale, Jeremy Renner, just everybody
else in Hollywood who shows upand does an amazing job.
And then I also like this.
(03:14):
This is what I feel likeMartin Scorsese would do if he ever
did comedies, is we would havefar more of the American Hustle vibe
because it's.
It's got a foot in that, youknow, mob gangster, Godfather, Goodfellas
kind of feel to it.
And then the other foot isjust in the most ridiculous shit
that, like James Gunn,Guardians of the Galaxy.
(03:36):
Ridiculous.
Yeah.
And it plays it extremely well.
You.
You shouldn't.
It shouldn't be this goodbased on what the story is and then
the content of the movie.
But I love it.
I think it's phenomenal.
I. I don't watch it enoughbecause I don't.
I just don't know why.
And so when it came Amy as.
But I was like, oh, I knowwhat I'm doing.
American Hustle, absolutely, man.
(04:01):
I. I'm with you.
I love this movie.
I think after I give my.
My brief intro of what I thinkof this movie, we can talk down into
one of my only issues with themovie, which is petty and it's me.
But, yeah, I. I listen.
David O. Russell is aninteresting dude and his movies are
very interesting.
I've enjoyed a lot of hismovies, even back to, like, Three
(04:21):
Kings, which is.
I don't know if you've seenthat, but that's.
That's a weird one.
But, yeah, like, I reallyenjoy him.
And this one was in.
In terms of.
He's another one that you.
You talk about Scorsese, andScorsese is really great at getting
together some massive ensemble casts.
And David O. Russell, to your.
(04:43):
You know, to your point, hedoes a very good job of that, too,
these days.
Like, you look back over thelast handful of his movies, man,
and typically there's alwayssome carryovers just like Scorsese.
So I think it's a very goodcomparison for directors and writers
and things like that.
So.
But yeah, like, this movie's great.
I think the Cast kills it.
I mean, I even think, like,listen, I'm not.
(05:04):
And I've said this on thepodcast a few times.
Christian Bale is not myfavorite, but I really enjoy him
in this movie.
Like, the fact that this dudecan look the way he looks, like his
little paunch and he's baldingand he's looks a little goofy and
talks real weird and is justkind of a weird dude, but is still
able to do this con man at ahigh level.
Man, I love that.
(05:24):
I love the.
The against the grain becauseall washed out.
Because typically, it's likeyou get a con man and they're all
smooth and, like, you know,you think like, catch me if you can
or something like that.
Everybody's like, smooth again.
But this dude is not that.
Like, and I. I realize that heuses Amy Adams as, like, that kind
of piece of the caricature.
(05:45):
Right.
But it's still.
I just love the dichotomy ofthose two and, like, how it works.
And then, yeah, throw inJennifer Lawrence, you're like, what
the is going on?
Don't put any men on thescience machine.
Yeah.
And you're right.
Like, you take it this.
That should be very serious.
Like, you got all sorts ofcriminal going on, but it's just
(06:08):
funny as.
So it's hilarious.
Yeah, it's great.
So, yeah, I'm with you.
I. I really enjoyed this movie.
I will say that I have, like,the only thing that I have.
And again, this is all me.
Like, a lot of people thinkthis is peak David O. Russell, but
I think Silver LiningsPlaybook is peak David O. Russell,
and this movie was his followup to that.
(06:31):
And so I had a hard time,like, letting go of the fact that
Silver Linings Playbook is oneof my favorite movies.
Like, it's top 25 for me, for sure.
And this movie's up in thatballpark like it wants to be.
But I always compare it toSilver Linings Playbook because of
the carryover cast with, youknow, Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley
(06:54):
Cooper.
I can't, like, break those twoapart for some reason when I watch
it.
And again, it's an.
It's a me thing becausethey're very different movies.
But at the same time, like, Ican't help but compare them.
And.
And it.
This one doesn't win in thatcomparison for me.
So it's.
That's where this.
This one falls short.
And it's so stupid that I hadto say it out loud so that when my.
(07:16):
When the rest of this reviewIs kind of tinged with a little bit
of doubt.
Just know it's because I'm a petty.
That's fair.
Yeah.
I won't hold it against youuntil I can profit from it.
There you go.
But, yeah, no, like.
Like you were saying withChristian Bale.
(07:38):
And the, you know, fact thathe looks the way he does is so great
because it's the.
It's like kind of like thereality versus the romantic.
Romanticizing of it.
Right.
Like you got Bradley Cooperplaying Damasio.
Yeah.
So something like that.
Damascus.
Yeah.
Whatever it is.
And he's.
He's 100.
The romantized version of, youknow, big bust going after the mob.
(08:03):
You know, he's raised onstories of how they took out Capone,
but he kind of missed thegolden years versus Christian Baylor's.
Like, that's not how this goes.
Yeah, stop my.
Stop everything up.
Yeah, we.
You wanted this.
Now you want.
Want more.
You want change?
(08:23):
Like, you gotta tell me whatyou want, because that's how the
plan goes.
And Christian Bale'scharacter, the Rosenthal, he's.
He's 100.
The create the problem andthen supply the solution.
We see it in the intro wherehe's breaking the windows so that
as a glass business, but he'sthe one who's moving all the pieces,
right?
And based on what the goal is.
(08:44):
That's how you create the problem.
Then sell this.
You know, sell the solution.
And you got freaking device.
Just like, well, now I want.
And now I want.
And we all know somebody like that.
Maybe not to that extreme, butjust every single time a goal is
hit it the post move.
And it's like, hey, well, nowI have to go back and undo all the
(09:06):
shit I just did.
Because what you want is now different.
And I can't do it with the.
With the pieces I put into play.
And so I love it because it'sthis kind of like reality versus
the, you know, almost the movies.
Right?
It's like, stop.
Stop it.
Stop.
Nope.
Nope.
Bad.
(09:27):
Until eventually just gets fedup with it.
It's like, hey, you too, then.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You'll be the perfect patsy.
Oh, for sure.
Yeah.
And I. I'm with you.
And I love the way that Cooper plays.
Plays this character.
Like.
And I. I'm a big fan ofBradley Cooper in general.
General.
But the way he plays thischaracter to me is like, this is
(09:49):
talking.
There it goes.
Again.
To me, talk about.
This is peak Bradley Cooper.
Like, even.
I think even this is one casewhere if you want to talk about wins
between Silver LiningsPlaybook in this for me.
Bradley Cooper steps it upeven more in this because he's phenomenal
in Silver Linings Playbook.
But that's Jennifer Lawrence'smovie, in my opinion.
This one, it's hard to say itbecause there's so much good acting
(10:13):
across the board, but thismight be Bradley Cooper's movie.
To me, just because you getthis comfort zone and I.
Let me explain.
I get.
You get in this comfort zoneof like watching Christian Bale's
character do his thing and AmyAdams stepping in and supporting
him being the actual, like,football in every play and being
able to run this.
And then you got JenniferLawrence, who's this like, loose
(10:35):
cannon that you're like, shemight some up down the road.
But then, you know, and soyou're watching all this and it's
going on and it's going on,and then all of a sudden you see
Bradley Cooper come in and themotto, and you're like, oh, he's
gonna this up.
They're on a roll, but he'sgonna mess this up.
And I love the reaction, likethe facial expressions that that
Christian Bale puts on hischaracter whenever he's having a
(10:58):
conversation with Bradley Cooper.
It just like the subtlety ofthat acting.
Like he just looks like I'mreading his mind.
And in his mind he's like, you.
You are all of this up for me.
I'm trying to help you.
And I think that's my favoritepart of this movie is watching Christian
(11:23):
Bale go, I am a genius.
I figured this out.
I got a plan and it's gonnawork because my always works.
And then d' Amato or Lawrencecome in, one of the two, and you
could just see his face dropand his like, body language go, God
damn it.
It's just like, where's myheart pills?
(11:44):
Yeah.
And it.
This movie shouldn't be asfunny as it is, like, because it's
serious.
Like, people are doing somewild ass.
But God bless America.
I. Dude, I laugh so hard atthis movie, even at the stuff that's
not necessarily supposed to befunny because of watching Christian
(12:06):
Bale's face.
Or like when Bradley Cooperand the model go full on manic and
they're just like.
It's like moving at 100 milesa minute to get.
And.
And he's just watching.
You're watching ChrisChristian Bell just sit there going,
oh, my God, what are you doing?
And then again, I think, Amy Adams.
(12:27):
I'm glad you picked this forAmy Adams, because while it's not
like a Amy Adams movie.
It doesn't work without her,you know what I mean?
Because she's just all.
For all of his ability tocreate a plan and get it into motion,
without Amy Adams, there's nota single one of them that works.
And so I love that aspect ofthat relationship too.
(12:49):
She gets a seat at the table.
Nobody's going to talk to him.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But no.
So I laugh way too hard atthis all the time, but it's because.
I think it's because it goesup and down, right?
So I have this like, reallyintense moment where Bradley Cooper
is just freaking out, right.
Christian Bale comes in, he'sgot the gun and everything, and like
(13:11):
this intense moment.
And then it like, cuts awayand he's beaten with the phone or
just call.
He's like, I want the suite at.
You know, with the Hilton orwhatever it was the Spring Hill.
Oh, yeah.
And just the.
The back and forth.
(13:32):
And like you said, it's almostlike a switch.
Like bipolar to the extreme.
And instead of making you go,wow, this guy's crazy.
I'm just laughing because Iwant to know what happens at the
end of this ice fishing story.
Same.
Same with.
But he never just sits andlistens to the story.
(13:52):
It's always at the worst timewhere he does what happened to the
ice fish.
Like just the.
The timing and it makes it socomedic and like just it.
It's like a flip of the switchand all of a sudden we're changing
directions.
And normally I hate that, butin this.
(14:13):
In this movie works, I thinkit's because Bradley Cooper, Christian
Bale, Jennifer Lawrence, evenAmy Adams to the extent is like,
it's.
It's seamless.
And even though that'stypically what pulls me out and I
hate it.
And normally in this, I'm justcackling because it's so funny and
so ridiculous while at thesame time being extremely relatable,
(14:37):
even to the point of.
You got like the.
Almost like the little meetingbetween the FBI director, his boss.
He's just sitting on the couchgoing, like, trying to defend his
actions.
And it's cutting into wherehe's just wailing on him in between.
(14:59):
And then on the couch, he'sall calm, like, well, you know, I
don't know if that's exactlywhat happened.
So good.
It is just so great that it.
I, you know, forget the fact that.
Hell, I'm just cameraproblems, dude.
For real.
So it's.
It's just works.
Yeah.
And it's crazy that it does,but it does.
(15:20):
Another reason that makes thismovie crazy.
Well, and I think this is mostDavid O. Russell helmed films like
this where he wrote, directed,like, he's fully involved, is he
is like a huge.
Like, let them do their thing.
Like a lot of.
I think there was.
I was watching an interview,this was years ago when it came out
(15:42):
that Jeremy Renner was talkingabout and Christian Bale were talking
about the fact that David O.Russell just, like, loves to let
people improv through stuff.
And I guess there was a momentwhere Christian Bale was talking
to him and he's like, excuse me.
He's making these decisionsabout the character and what he was
(16:04):
going to do in the scene.
And he's like, you do realize,David, or whatever, you know, that
this might change the, youknow, the plot down the line by,
you know, me running throughsome of these improvs that you're
loving and have me run with.
And I guess the response fromDavid or from David O. Russell was,
I hate plots.
Christian.
(16:24):
He goes, I'm all aboutcharacters and what characters do,
so if that's what yourcharacter will do, let's roll with
it.
So I think it's interesting.
And I don't.
I don't know.
Look, I. I think for me,personally, if I was an actor or
in any field, like, that kindof up in the air might give me some
heart palpitations, but itobviously works because, man, this
(16:46):
movie, and it does take someweird twists, like you said.
Like, who's expecting thisdude to just beat the shit out of
his boss and then have it bethis running gag and piece of a conversation
that is impacting how thiswhole thing goes.
That had to have been improv.
You know what I mean?
Like, there's gotta be.
And I think I appreciatedirectors from a level of Ewing piece
(17:08):
that do that, right?
That let actors be actors,because a lot of times they don't.
And so I think there's thingsthat are missed.
And so with this, there'sobviously not anything missed because,
man, these characters are welldeveloped, they're well understood,
and there's no missing whothey are and what they're doing and.
And.
And what they're trying to get.
(17:29):
But, man, they take sometwists and turns that I imagine,
at least knowing that this wasso highly improv.
Had.
To have come from a lot of,let's just make this happen.
Let's just make this happen.
So I really enjoy that Flash.
(17:51):
Sorry, I had a Flash Gordonmoment there.
No, that makes a lot of sense.
Where it was a little bitlike, I'm gonna try this.
And in this take or whateverit is.
And David.
Yep.
That works.
Okay, moving on.
And it's.
I almost seem like.
Wait, wait, wait.
(18:12):
You sure?
Yep.
No, that.
That's great.
You know, cut and wrap.
We'll move on to the next scene.
Because there.
There are moments where it's just.
It's almost just out in left field.
And I would imagine that.
Or if I had to guess, I wouldsay that almost all of Jennifer Lawrence's
(18:34):
and Christian Bale's argumentswere improv, where it's the little
fire.
It's a little fire.
It's fine.
After she put tin foil in the microwave.
Like the.
I like the aftermath of those,I would bet were entirely improv
(18:58):
on.
Sure.
Because they're just one.
So realistic.
Yeah.
And two going off in, like,four different directions at one
time where there's no waysomeone would write that.
Yeah.
Because there's no point to it.
Yeah.
Well.
And that's so.
I mean, I know we're talkingabout Amy Adams movies here, and
again, we mentioned that sheis obviously front and center in
(19:21):
this film and plays a hugepart, but at the same time, Jennifer
Lawrence does steal everyscene she's in, which is a Jennifer
Lawrence thing, I think.
Like, she's.
She's something else.
And in this movie, like, she'snot in it that much.
Like 10 minutes.
Yeah.
She's only in it a little bit.
And she's in it in this, like,as just, like, more fuel for the
(19:44):
chaos for this guy.
And, like.
But she kills it.
And to your point, like, someof the things she does, you're like,
oh, yeah, you're.
I get.
Like, you can see the allore,too, because you're also like, man,
Amy Adams in this film islike, drop dead.
Right?
And she's a chameleon that canchange to whatever.
But, man, you get JenniferLawrence and you're like, oh, I get
(20:06):
it.
Like, that level of chaos and unpredictability.
And.
And it's funny because to me,she's in this film.
Wow.
We're getting serious aboutgetting serious on filming.
Right.
And talking about this filmand the writing on this.
She's a mirror of Christian orBradley Cooper's character on the
flip side.
Right.
Like, this guy lives in chaos,and now he's got the same person
(20:30):
on either side.
He's got the one on thepersonal life now he's got this slightly
professional piece that'sdriving him from the FBI side.
But, like, it's like holy man.
Like, he just surroundshimself with chaos.
And the only thing that keepshim grounded is Amy Adams character.
You know what I mean?
She brings him back and says,okay, we can figure this out.
And it's horrid because, Imean, she knows about Jennifer.
(20:55):
It's just wild how all theplayers come together in this.
And like, she's so patient.
But you can tell she knowsthat she'll never be able to be peak
level con artist without him.
And he knows vice versa.
That's why he's always, like,trying to fix it.
It's just this interestingweave that was pulled together between
(21:16):
all these characters, whichmakes it even more fun because you're
like, what's gonna happen nowwith these two?
What's gonna happen?
Or are they gonna be in thesame room together?
That could be shitty.
You know what I mean?
And God forbid, when JenniferLawrence and Bradley Cooper's character
in the same room together,because those two are chaos demons,
dude.
And it is amazing.
(21:36):
It's fantastic.
Yeah.
But yeah, it's a good pointthat I didn't really pick up on.
Is he.
Christian Bale's getting fromboth ends.
Yeah.
And that's why Amy Adamscharacter is really central to everything.
Is she's the voice of reason.
But even she's like, let's getthe out of crazy town, dude.
Yeah.
Multiple times.
(21:56):
What are we doing?
Like, that's.
And.
But to have the confidencethat we can just run.
Yeah.
And nobody's gonna catch us.
Yeah.
Like, that is peak level confidence.
Granted.
If Damasio is the one chasing you.
Yeah.
You're.
You're scot free.
Yeah.
But if somebody else comesafter you as an ounce of brain cells,
(22:17):
then you might be in a little bit.
Of trouble for sure.
But that.
That whole thing, like, Iwould love to see.
You know, I know this is basedoff a true story, so we're not gonna
get it, but a little spin offof these two characters would have
been so cool.
That would have been amazing.
I just do it.
Ocean's Eleven type.
American Hustle.
Yeah.
(22:38):
Hilarious, dude.
I will say so.
A little.
Not necessarily a problem, butmaybe nitpicky.
Right?
We love to get nitpicky on the podcast.
Is that the casting charactersare so great that by the time we
get De Niro, I'm not impressed.
(23:02):
Yeah.
Or it's.
It's almost like, oh, I waswondering, you know, where's Joe
Pesci at?
Yeah.
Or.
And so by the time we getthere, the.
The payoff for it wasn't Therebecause everybody else is so great.
Yeah.
That De Niro seems almost likefan service.
(23:23):
Yeah.
Like it's a.
It's a, you know, adjacent mob movie.
Who are we gonna throw in there?
Robert De Niro.
We have to.
I think it's even worsebecause it feels like.
Because David O. Russell is.
Is notorious for using thesame actors a lot.
Right.
And for three or four.
(23:44):
I think De Niro's been inevery movie he's done since Silver
Linings Playbook, maybe even before.
I'd have to look.
But, like, I.
And I'm with you.
I agree 100% with what youjust said.
And I saw it from the lens of.
Not only is it because allwe're in a mobster movie, we need
a De Niro or a Pacino or a Pesci.
But instead it was, oh, it's aDavid O. Russell movie.
(24:05):
So we have to have De Niro.
So when he popped up, I waslike, ah, fuck.
I was like, you put that inthere just to give Robert De Niro
some cash and have him in yourfilm, like, because his character
was while funny.
And listen, De Niro's De Niro, right?
So it's like, we love De Niro.
He's a genius.
(24:26):
Don't mind the squeaking inthe background.
My dog always picks the worsttimes to decide to play.
But, yeah, like, so De Niro'sDe Niro.
We love having him.
But it felt forced.
It just felt unnecessary tohave De Niro in there because I don't
think it.
I. I mean, look, I just don'tthink it's.
Improve the movie all that much.
It just was like, okay, well,there's De Niro and there's this
(24:49):
character that.
Okay, it's funny because it'sDe Niro and it's.
It's fits the theme, but it's not.
It's unnecessary, at least to me.
Yeah.
So I like here just, you know,spitballing here.
I think it would have beenfunny if you did De Niro, Pesci,
and Pacino.
(25:09):
Like, they're awesome.
Like, they're the three guystogether in a way.
And so then you're leadinginto this mobster trope, even David
Russell a little bit.
But you're almost again,poking fun at yourself a little bit
or poking fun at the sourcematerial, the content.
It's not a mobster movieunless these three guys are in it.
(25:31):
And so I think that would havebeen kind of playing in.
With the same storyline I giveyou through the three of them in
but since it's just De Niro,by the time we got there, I was like,
okay, you know, it's not themenacing, you know, mobster that
it's supposed to be in thissituation because you have Michael
(25:53):
Pena sitting opposite him.
Who is it?
It's never gonna be this kindof intense scene that you're trying
for.
And so I would have leaned theother way and gone full comedy and
been like, hey, this, this,this will be funny.
Because it would have been.
You throw the three, you know,de facto mobster guys into the same
(26:15):
movie in the same scene.
That would at least make me laugh.
Oh, yeah, no, I would haveloved that.
Like, that would have beenabsolutely hilarious.
Just because you walk in, it'slike the triumvirate of mobster actors.
And yeah, that would have beenhilarious as hell.
(26:35):
And, and like you said, like,it would have really, like just leaned
right into it.
Or you do Pacino.
Not Pacino.
You do Pesci and De Niro there.
And then Pacino's the lawyer.
Oh, yeah, that would have been good.
Or even better make Pesci the lawyer.
Because then it's almost likemy cousin Vinnie.
(26:58):
Yeah.
Is that Vinnie?
That would have been funny.
That would have been hysterical.
Because he could have had thesame accent.
Like, it would have worked.
Oh, it would have been epic, dude.
Would have been epic.
Vinnie's back.
Watch this.
But then, then, then you keepwith this kind of comedic thing that's
(27:21):
going.
Yeah, yeah.
Because it's a little jarringwhen you have this big wrap up coming
or, you know, you get into thethird act of the movie and you have
the, oh, he's in trouble witheverybody now because his wife can't
keep her mouth shut, you know,and you.
It's a great payoff at the end.
Yeah.
But when half the movie isjust off the walls comedy and the
(27:43):
other half is trying to bethis kind of serious back end mob
deal.
Yeah.
It's like just pick one or theother and the comedy is working really
well.
Just keeps fear in that way.
Yeah.
Because it, it wouldn't affectthe, the payoff of the movie.
Yeah, the payoff still happens.
Yeah.
(28:04):
So you can, you can almostskip this 10 minutes of, you know,
trying to switch to this veryserious, you know, super drama.
Yeah.
Intense situation.
Man.
Yeah, No, I think it's a goodcall out.
I, I never really thoughtabout it from that perspective because
(28:26):
it does the movie king.
And this is a David O. Russellin general problem, but his movies
are just as manic as a lot ofhis characters, like, they.
They kind of give you whiplashif you're not prepared for it.
And so it's like, I'm with you.
I think keeping with thattheme of comedy and the comedic relief,
especially the oddball off thewall stuff that happens, like, yeah,
that would have been hilarious.
(28:47):
And I you.
I guarantee you could have gotat least Joe Pesci, probably Pacino.
If you really now, it wouldhave cost you.
But this movie, David O.Russell movies make tons of money.
So I don't know.
Especially at this time, man,he was killing it, dude.
Between Silver Linings, thisone Joy, man, he was knocking it
out of the park around this time.
(29:08):
So it's like, yeah, I'm with you.
I feel that.
I feel that.
But you mentioned Michael Penaand I just said it, dude.
Why is Michael Pena thegreatest bit actor on the planet?
Like, I don't know.
Just is not enough credit forwhat he does.
Seriously.
And the guy doesn't leadmovies, but God damn it, if he ain't
(29:30):
one of the greatest little.
Just insert him in here.
He can be serious.
He can be it.
Because he do.
He was great in the Shooter, Ithink is what it was called.
And then with.
He was awesome in that.
That was a ser role.
And then you get him in likeAnt man, where he steals the entire
movie with like the voiceover scenes.
And then like, like, I waslike Ant Man 2.
(29:54):
I was like, if Michael Penadoesn't get a goddamn gonna be, I'm
gonna lose my.
Because that was one of two ofthe best parts of the whole first
movie.
And then you get him insomething like this where, like people
are just able to riff off himso well.
Like, the whole line wherehe's like.
Where I think it's ChristianBale is like the.
Do you care?
You're Mexican.
And like Michael Pena's facejust like, like, this is amazing.
(30:19):
But only Michael Pena can pullthat off, I swear to God.
But he's just.
Every time I see Pena, I'mlike, okay, I can get behind this
movie.
I like it.
He doesn't have to spend a lotof time on screen either.
No, you can give him the threeminutes he got in this movie and
it's beautiful, perfect.
(30:40):
And you could give him a majorrole like he did in the Shooter series.
And again he shows up and doeshis job and it's perfect.
Yeah.
And even in Ant man, like, Antman did so well because he was there.
And then I think it was athird one where they didn't do it.
Yep.
Like he didn't show up.
I hate that movie.
(31:01):
Yeah.
Now it's.
It's no worse than Ant Man 1and Ant Man 2.
The only thing that'sdifferent is Michael.
No, Michael Pena.
I didn't get my.
I didn't get my summarizationof what's going on.
The weird.
Yeah.
It's so good.
And it's, it's just one ofthose things, like he's, he's the
perfect.
Hey, we need a spot filled.
(31:21):
Yeah.
And it's not going to besomeone who's gonna necessarily overshadow
the scene or steal it in, youknow, away.
But it's a solid, you know,just like you can't be mad at him
for coming in and showing up and.
Yeah.
Oh, great.
Solid performance.
Yeah.
Stealer.
But he makes the scenes better.
Like he's a scene improver.
(31:42):
Like, you can't.
It could be a great scene, butwhen you throw Pena in there, he's
going to make it betterwithout stealing it.
And make.
In most cases.
Now he does steal some, butlike in most cases, he just adds
to it, adds value to thescene, which is amazing.
I love it.
All right, should we rate this thing?
Let's do it.
All right.
Alex, your movie.
(32:02):
Kick us off, buddy.
What are you rate in American Hustle?
I'm giving it four and a half.
Nice.
I don't think I.
It's.
It's one of those sleeper movies.
I don't think it gets enoughtalk about credit.
And I think it might bebecause it doesn't really have a
place.
Right.
We kind of talked about it.
It's not necessarily a comedyand it's not necessarily a drama
(32:24):
and it's not necessarily amobster movie and it's not necessarily
a, you know, romance film.
But it is all of those thingsat the same time.
So it's hard to focus on.
But it is such a great watchevery single time.
And yes, I'm a four and a half.
We'll watch it again.
100.
Love it.
(32:44):
I am going to do the same thing.
You can give it a four and ahalf again.
It's not my peak David O.Russell movie, but it's.
It's second in command for sure.
I think the ensemble cast, the wonky.
Just like all over the place.
Which for me, typically, I'vebitched about that in so many movies.
Like, I am not a fan.
(33:06):
But it works in David O.Russell movies.
Like, I think he lets you.
He gives enough freedom butreigns in and keeps to the structure
of the story.
Well enough that it doesn'tderail anything and it actually adds
value from a comedic level.
And like, it keeps you on yourtoes when you're watching his movies,
like, because you don't knowexactly what's gonna happen next.
And so.
(33:27):
And there's always theselittle overarching story beats that
carry through even if they'renot talking about that particular
thing directly in the movie orit's not playing into that.
There's.
You can always see how it fitsinto the bigger picture of it, which
I think is a direct testamentto the writing and the directing
(33:50):
of David O. Russell and whyhis movies are so successful.
They can be wonky and weirdand silly, but they still follow
that story structure and keepsyou going from start to finish with
what you need to do.
Now, he has some missed beatslike we talked about with De Niro,
things like that, but overall it's.
They're very successful intelling a story in a very fun and
(34:11):
interesting way that keeps youvery engaged, in my opinion.
So, yeah, Four and a half.
I will definitely watch it again.
I.
A lot of David O. Russell'smovies on my watch at any time list
and this one's.
This one's really high up there.
So Four and a Half.
Good choice.
Good movie.
Matson missed out once again.
This guy, he's gonna wish hewas here for the first two and not.
(34:34):
Yep.
For the last two because aboutto ruin his world anyway.
Yeah, there it is.
American Hustle.
Alec, tell everybody wherethey can find us if they're not sitting
here watching us right now.
Happy to.
So like JJ said at thebeginning, this is week two of AAA
month.
That's Amy Adams August.
And we got two more weeks, twomore movies.
(34:59):
Like JJ also said is the bestplace to get involved with the podcast
is on Patreon.
You can go on.
What's our verdict?
Reviews.
Vote on movies that isabsolutely free.
You can vote on if we letMatson back on the podcast or not.
We kicked him off man of the People.
Not true.
The people spoke and theyvoted him off.
So you can vote him back on ifyou want to for the next little bit,
(35:23):
but voting is completely free.
We put up categories.
We put up movies that arewithin those categories.
You can vote on both and helpdirect the content into something
that you want to see.
There is a little bit more,about 550 bonus videos ranging from
outtakes and bits to makingfun of each other, all the way up
(35:44):
to full length episodes ofrequested movies that nobody should
ever watch.
But we've done it for you.
That is behind a little bit ofa paywall, but it is well worth it
with hours and hours ofcontent and just good vibes.
Look at that.
I'm, I'm, I'm hip.
(36:05):
I know slaying words.
But without that, you know,not going on Patreon, not wanting
to be a part of that.
You can still find us onYouTube where you can see our faces
in the light or in the dark iswhat's going on this episode for
me.
But that way you can put aname to the face and a face to the
name and follow us there,subscribe, do all that we love comments.
(36:27):
So leave us a nice comment orleave us a mean comment.
Either one works.
It makes our world go around.
With that, I'll kick it backto our fearless leader, the Maharajah
of mash the wise here of Wap A jj.
Thanks, buddy.
I love it.
Yeah, go check us out in allthe places.
Even listening to us on yourway to work.
(36:49):
What a way to start your day.
That's all I'm saying.
So there it is.
We'll kick back into our nextcouple movies here.
Coming soon with Amy Adams August.
But for now, we appreciate youtuning in.
We'll catch you on the nextHasta la vista, baby.
Cinematic.
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