MovieChat Forums > American Hustle (2013) Discussion > The critics....

The critics....

posted 9 years ago by Pankakesnotstellar
11 replies | jump to latest

Were the critics all rounded up in a dungeon and held captive until they signed their reviews for this?

This is the best example of being phony and fake and not wanting to go against the main voice, which is ironic because if there's one thing the critics are proud of, is being sooo independent. They trash films that are excellent little gems(eg.'Good') and hype this mess. Guess when it really counts they don't have the balls to go against the machine. More ironic is that the only mixed review came in a very cheap form of horrendous writing and shallow analysis...*sigh*

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Our knowledge has made us cynical, our cleverness has made us hard and unkind.

[–] oobie-1 9 years ago

Ya, I saw it knowing all the hype,actors,actresses...it's a snooze fest.
I watched it with my sister and dad and they were bored, I was the only one who finished watching it. Could have made this 1 hour and a half...

[–] Arvin-G-Borkar 9 years ago

They are hyping this because of Jennifer Lawrence. Of course, I think that was what the director intended to do as well. There is very little script given to this movie. It was said that most of it was improvised and the director, David O Russel, just wanted to showcase Cooper, Bale, and Lawrence as characters. I usually am on top of any movie Cooper was in, but something told me to not see this when it came out in theaters. Glad that I did not see it. Watching it now on cable.

Reminder: The O.C. comes back on POP network March 8th at 1 p.m. EST

[–] spookyrat1 9 years ago

The critics....

... and the public are clearly singing from the same song sheet. 🐭

[–] kmags84 9 years ago

The only place this is rated low is HERE. It's Universally Acclaimed otherwise for a reason. Nitpicking doesn't help. Just watch and enjoy. I found the narrative creative. The use of Music is on a Scorsese level and the Directing/Acting are fantastic. It's like an Odyssey. It's not meant to be a "Straight Up" piece of Cinema.

[–] Pankakesnotstellar 8 years ago

What do you mean only here? It's 7.1 here and it's around 73 on metacritic (user score) and around 74(audience score) on rotten tomates. I would say the audience is pretty uniform that is an okay to good film, but not one to deserve a 90 on metacritic from critics...

It is a bona fide case of critics overselling smth, of being afraid to critise it because of all the Hollywood star power behind it. Because it was an experiment from O'Russell, without a script, it doesn't mean it worked well. Anyone with eyes without blinders, can see that the film is seriously uneven and doesn't flow at all together. It's not a case of a lot of currents flowing together (drama, comedy, thriller) it's a case of any of these types interfering and blocking each other, it's a cold mess, the worst type of mess, even though the acting, especially of Amy Adams and J.Lawrence is actually top notch. The C.K.Lewis character is the most idiotic and disconnected one, it seems he just wandered in from some other dimension, and the cameo of R. De Niro was just pathetic, a cheap reminder of one of his most iconic roles, how lame is that?
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Our knowledge has made us cynical, our cleverness has made us hard and unkind.

[–] kmags84 8 years ago

CK and DeNiro most definitely play their roles in the scope of the film. When you say this was a case of the critics all buying into the hype, I think the same can be said for some of the viewers. It became the film to bash. So the scores reflect that. 70+ is never bad. Especially on sites where ratings get skewed because of ridiculously low scores. It's pretty much the "Nolanite" Effect... His films are loved by a huge proportion of younger viewers and because of this, you have another base that discards his films JUST CAUSE... And because of that, the "Nolanites" go on other films and bash them. It all leads to ridiculous and either bloated or reduced scores. With American Hustle, I see the arguments and they're usually pretty uniform. However, most miss the entire point of the film. It's not a Surface Level piece of Cinema. The ABSCAM is just a Metaphor/Allegory. When we peel back more and more of the film, IMO it gets better and better. Requiring multiple viewings and an open mind.

[–] Pankakesnotstellar 8 years ago

CK and DeNiro most definitely play their roles in the scope of the film.

That's like saying that they have learned their text (if there was one) their roles are completely nonsensical and cheap copy respectively. There is no good parody there, because of the bad disjointed structure of the film.

The ABSCAM is just a Metaphor/Allegory.

ha! I thought it was supposed to be the only realistic element in the story. Could you please explain to me how Abscam is a metaphor/allegory, please note that they are not interchangeable.
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Our knowledge has made us cynical, our cleverness has made us hard and unkind.

[–] kmags84 8 years ago

I could easily explain it... But why should I? You'll continue to reach into your bag of Straws. The film plays on a Meta Level. The reasons Louie CK plays that character or DeNiro as an Old Time Gangster aren't hard to figure out. The ABSCAM relation is again, A very easy one to figure out. However, you hate the film, it's overrated, the Critics were wrong, YOU were right. I get it... "Some of this actually happened"

[–] Pankakesnotstellar 8 years ago

I could easily explain it... But why should I? You'll continue to reach into your bag of Straws.

I thought people came here to discuss things.... what bag of straws? I don't have any for the reason that I'm not writing this from a field, if you reached for a platitude to try avoiding answering to my perfect normal question then...good. well done.

The film plays on a Meta Level. The reasons Louie CK plays that character or DeNiro as an Old Time Gangster aren't hard to figure out.

You mean they are the metas here? They are playing parodies of themselves from other works? All this when that part with DeNiro is supposed to be serious/dangerous/potentially murderous? Have you seen Johnny English? That's the only way this concept works.

The ABSCAM relation is again, A very easy one to figure out

I would ask you to explain what you mean, but you aren't here to discuss things are you?

However, you hate the film, it's overrated, the Critics were wrong, YOU were right. I get it...

I do not hate the film, i find it very uneven and undeserving of the critical acclaim it has accumulated with a score of 88.
+ acting(mainly A.Adams, this is her best work yet and J.Lawrence, this is actually better than her SLP role, although on the same neurotic vein), costumes, music, colour palette

- direction, editing, script, acting (mainly Louie CK, Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro etc...)

Neutral to good acting: J.Renner and C.Bale (yes he transforms himself but the character is empty, not believable, is written badly, therefore there's not much he can do and he doesn't)
The flaws weigh quite heavily, which brings me back to my op, were the critics rounded up in a dungeon to write their reviews or actually invited to many parties with fringe benefits? Just asking...The over-rating here really went over...I gave the film a 6 I think, also, Hate is an important feeling to have as a human, but it doesn't have a place in art, so there is none here.

"Some of this actually happened

And ???

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Our knowledge has made us cynical, our cleverness has made us hard and unkind.

[–] taran-rod 8 years ago

Okay I know it's "cool" to not like critically acclaimed movies, but you should realize that the whole world doesn't turn around you. It was praised for a reason. The acting was outstanding (put apart Cooper who was just annoying imo), the directing was dynamic, the cinematography was amazing and the music is so finely selected. This was an excellent movie and I don't get all the bugs that people seem to find here. And yes, it WAS funny.

[–] adrian-15 8 years ago

I've seen AH four times now, and am liking it better each time. So, I think the critics were correct on this one.
I also liked Sideways, Zero Dark Thirty, Boyhood, and Gravity, all 95+ metacritic, but hated by very vocal detractors. Which will probably get me 10 days of abuse, until the IMDB message boards shut down ;-)