RE: The Last Movie You Watched
August 26, 2024 at 8:16 am
(This post was last modified: August 26, 2024 at 8:22 am by Nanny.
Edit Reason: added Worcester links
)
American Hustle (2013) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Hustle - Filmed, in part, in Worcester, MA (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worcester,_Massachusetts where I grew up) my main interest was seeing familiar places like the Worcester Art Museum (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worcester_Art_Museum ), Union Station (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Stat...achusetts)), Front Street, the Hanover Theater (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanover_Th...rming_Arts), Telegram and Gazette building (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telegram_%26_Gazette) , Worcester police department HQ, etc.. The places are represented well by this quirky dark comedy. Big ups to Wormtowne!
The opening scroll says that some of this actually happened. A fat Christian Bale with a terrible comb-over plays a hustler with his partner Amy Adams. They run a bait and switch investment scam, get caught by an FBI agent played by Bradley Cooper, and get pressured to assist with corruption investigations into local, and then national politicians.
The film avoids the tropes of the undercover, wire-wearing snoop motif by diving into 1970's vibes. Loud prints, velvet jackets, big long American cars, period music, hair curlers, all give the sense of time and place. The humor comes at Bale's character's expense, who never manages to keep his head above the chaos around him. His overbearing wife (Jennifer Lawrence) is the foil, constantly mucking up the works leaving the Bale character looking ridiculous even though he is the mastermind of the sting. Cooper over acts. Jeremy Renner wears a funny wig. Louis CK gets abused (I admit it felt nice to see his character being bullied!). Absurdity abounds in this odd entertaining film that makes Worcester, MA shine.
The opening scroll says that some of this actually happened. A fat Christian Bale with a terrible comb-over plays a hustler with his partner Amy Adams. They run a bait and switch investment scam, get caught by an FBI agent played by Bradley Cooper, and get pressured to assist with corruption investigations into local, and then national politicians.
The film avoids the tropes of the undercover, wire-wearing snoop motif by diving into 1970's vibes. Loud prints, velvet jackets, big long American cars, period music, hair curlers, all give the sense of time and place. The humor comes at Bale's character's expense, who never manages to keep his head above the chaos around him. His overbearing wife (Jennifer Lawrence) is the foil, constantly mucking up the works leaving the Bale character looking ridiculous even though he is the mastermind of the sting. Cooper over acts. Jeremy Renner wears a funny wig. Louis CK gets abused (I admit it felt nice to see his character being bullied!). Absurdity abounds in this odd entertaining film that makes Worcester, MA shine.