MovieChat Forums > American Hustle (2013) Discussion > What didn't you like about it?

What didn't you like about it?


I personally thought this film was great, but that is just my honest opinion. But from what I understand, this movie gets a LOT of hate dumped on it, and most of it I can't really see justified other than the fact that it's simply their personal opinion. I do understand that the movie has flaws, there are some aspects that were done poorly or could have been cut entirely.

I'm asking as I am genuinely curious and don't wish to start trouble, so I'd like to know what part(s) didn't you like about it?

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The idea of doing a movie that depends largely on improvisation sounds like a good idea on paper, especially when you see the talent brought together here. But I didn't feel like it worked, it was like watching a movie written by team of ADHD writers, like one big experiment in film making. That and the fact that no one was likable with the exception of maybe Jeremy Renner's character made the movie unenjoyable. I particularly disliked Bale's character.

Amy Adams was really fun to look at and overall I thought the acting was good (yes, JLaw included, and what) but everything just didn't come together for me. As a movie I find it highly overrated, and it is pretty rare that I leave a movie theater disappointed.

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Good God you're a DOLT. You're really not supposed to like anyone in the cast because they're all con artists including Cooper's part to a degree.
I hate idiots who complain about a movie because they don't find the characters "likable" where the hell do you live? Fantasy Land? Where in real life to you like everyone?

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Characters don't need to be likeable per se but there needs to be something about them that makes the audience care about them or like watching them. Hannibal Lecter isn't a likeable character but we like watching him because he's layered, interesting, etc. Henry Hill is a jerk but he's got redeeming qualities and he's interesting to watch. The characters in this film were all horrible people with no interesting or redeeming qualities to them (except Renner's character, kind of). When you're watching a movie and want almost every single character to fail hard, be killed off or at least disappear from the film as soon as possible so we don't have to endure them any longer then that's not a good thing. Not unless they are the villain, but even then most great villains are likeable or fun to watch. None of these people were, at all. You shouldn't have your audience wanting to fast-forward past every scene with a character and you really shouldn't have that with the entire cast.

Personally I like subtlety in an acting performance but DOR seems to hate it or fear it because I haven't seen a shred of it in any of his movies. This one is probably the worst. It made me wonder if he told his cast that the one who over acted the most would get a bonus at the end of the day. The characters seem like charicatures, not people, and unless you're doing a parody movie that's not a good thing. It took me out of the movie. It didn't feel like watching great actors portray interesting characters, it felt like watching Christian Bale, Amy Adams and the rest doing their best to tell the audience that they are ACTING, they're not being themselves. Well duh. A good acting performance makes you forget you're watching an actor, immersing you in the character. There weren't any actual characters in this film, just actors hamming it up. The sad part is that with the exception of Bradley Cooper, this film has great actors. Which makes me blame DOR for the awful performances. Bale, Adams, Lawrence, Renner and DeNiro can actually act so I don't know why he's afraid to let them.


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I was really looking forward to this one, it sounded great, but I found it ended up being what I think of as smart-alecky, show-offy, look at us how clever we're being, filmmaking. .. If that makes sense. I know it's a flip characterization, but I found the whole enterprise emblematic of "the Emperor has no clothes" syndrome.

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I liked it, but there were a few things that kept it from being truly great imo.

First and foremost, it was too derivative of Scorsese. I understand and appreciate it was homage, so I don't hold that against the film. By that same token, the similarities make comparisons inevitable, and American Hustle suffered by comparison.

It's important to remember Scorsese didn't just sit down and create Goodfellas. He perfected his techniques over many films. Russell did an admirable job aping the style, but he just wasn't as polished. You could see the camera wobbles on zooms, etc.

Additionally, I think some of the actors, particularly Bradley Cooper, overacted at points. Perhaps this was deliberate, but it took me out of the film.

Finally, I think some of the characters were miscast. In particular, Jennifer Lawrence was just too young to be playing the wife imo.

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I wanted to like it I looked forward to it but I felt it didn't live up to the hype. The cast is talented I don't dispute that but I don't think this was Oscar worthy for any of them.I don't think it's a terrible movie it's just not a great one either. I'm sure some of the backlash is due to the endless praise. The other thing is the improvisation either it works or it doesn't and I didn't think it did.

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I really enjoyed the film.

But utterly hated the scene where Jennifer Lawrence sings along to Live and Let Die - almost enough to drop it from an 8 to a 7 :)

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There was very little to dislike, it's a great movie. The only thing I didn't care for was the obvious nods to Scorsese with the close ups on the weird things, like Renner putting a drink down, Bale dropping (or was it picking up) the keys, Adams's shoes. It's not like the close ups were for emphasis, they were rather random, and were an obvious Scorsese touch. Same with Renner's wife holding up a plant and saying, "this is just sad." It was pointless.

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I absolutely hated the Amy Adams character.

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It was like watching grown ups play dress up. I get that's essentially what acting is but there was nothing compelling about. Louis C.K. was the only genuine thing about it for me.

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The soundtrack was overdone and intrusive.


"I like simple pleasures like butter in my ass and lollipops in my mouth." - Floyd Gondolli

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