| American Hustle | |
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 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | David O. Russell |
| Written by |
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| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Linus Sandgren |
| Edited by | |
| Music by | Danny Elfman |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by |
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Release dates |
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Running time | 138 minutes[2] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $40 million[3] |
| Box office | $251 million[4] |
American Hustle is a 2013 Americancrime film[5] directed byDavid O. Russell. It was written byEric Warren Singer and Russell and inspired by theFBIAbscam operation of the late 1970s and early 1980s.[6] It starsChristian Bale andAmy Adams as two con artists forced by an FBI agent (Bradley Cooper) to set up an elaborate sting operation on corrupt politicians, including the mayor ofCamden, New Jersey (Jeremy Renner).Jennifer Lawrence plays the unpredictable wife of Bale's character.Principal photography took place from March to May 2013 inBoston andWorcester, Massachusetts, as well as New York City.
American Hustle was released nationwide in the United States on December 13, 2013.[7] The film opened to critical acclaim on release, with praise for its screenplay and the performances of the ensemble cast. It emerged as a major commercial success at the box office, grossing $251 million worldwide on a budget of $40 million.
American Hustle received a leading ten nominations at the86th Academy Awards, includingBest Picture,Best Director (for Russell),Best Actor (for Bale),Best Actress (for Adams),Best Supporting Actor (for Cooper), andBest Supporting Actress (for Lawrence), but failed to win any.[8] At the67th British Academy Film Awards, the film received ten nominations and won three, includingBest Actress in a Supporting Role (for Lawrence). The ensemble cast wonOutstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture at the20th Screen Actors Guild Awards, with Lawrence receiving an additional nomination forOutstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role.
In 1978, Irving Rosenfeld and Sydney Prosser work together ascon artists. Sydney, posing as English aristocrat "Lady Edith Greensly", has improved the scams. Irving loves Sydney but is unwilling to leave his unstable, histrionic wife Rosalyn, fearing that he will lose contact with adopted son Danny. Rosalyn has also threatened to report Irving to the police if he leaves her.
FBI agent Richie DiMaso catches Irving and Sydney in a loan scam but offers to release them if Irving can line up four additional arrests. Richie believes that Sydney is English but has proof that her aristocratic claim is fraudulent. She tells Irving that she will manipulate Richie, which distances her from Irving.
Irving's friend pretends to be a wealthy Arab sheikh looking for potential investments in America. An associate of Irving's suggests that the sheikh do business with Mayor Carmine Polito ofCamden, New Jersey, who is trying to revitalize gambling inAtlantic City but has struggled to find investors. Carmine seems to have a genuine desire to help the area's economy and his constituents.
Richie devises a plan to make Mayor Polito the target of asting operation despite the objections of Irving and of Richie's boss Stoddard Thorsen. Sydney helps Richie manipulate an FBI secretary to make an unauthorized wire transfer of $2 million. When Stoddard's boss Anthony Amado hears of the operation, he praises Richie's initiative, pressuring Stoddard to continue.
Carmine leaves the meeting when Richie presses him to accept that cash bribe. Irving convinces him the sheikh is legitimate, expressing his dislike of Richie, and they become friends. Richie arranges for Carmine to meet the sheikh, and without consulting the others, has Mexican-American FBI agent Paco Hernandez play the sheikh, which displeases Irving.
Carmine brings the sheikh to a casino party, explaining that mobsters are there and that it is a necessary part of doing business. Irving is surprised to hear thatMafia boss Victor Tellegio, right-hand man toMeyer Lansky, is present and wants to meet the sheikh. Tellegio explains that the sheikh needs to become an American citizen, and that Carmine will need to expedite the process. Tellegio also requires a $10 million wire transfer to prove the sheikh's legitimacy.
Richie confesses his strong attraction to Sydney but becomes confused and aggressive when she drops her British accent and admits to being fromAlbuquerque, New Mexico. Rosalyn starts an affair with mobster Pete Musane, whom she met at the party. She mentions her belief that Irving is working with theIRS, causing Pete to threaten Irving, who promises to prove that the sheikh's investment is real.
Irving confronts Rosalyn, who admits that she told Pete and agrees to keep quiet but wants a divorce. With Carmine's help, Richie and Irving videotape members of Congress receiving bribes. Richie assaults Stoddard in a fight over the money and soon convinces Amado that he needs the $10 million to get Tellegio, but he gets only $2 million. A meeting is arranged at the offices of Tellegio's lawyer Alfonse Simone, but Tellegio does not appear.
Irving visits Carmine and admits to the scam but says that he has a plan to help him. Carmine throws Irving out, and the loss of their friendship deeply upsets Irving. The federal agents inform Irving that their $2 million is missing and that they have received an anonymous offer to return the money in exchange for Irving and Sydney's immunity and a reduced sentence for Carmine.
As it turns out, Alfonse Simone, with whom Richie had arranged the wire transfer, was a con man working with Irving and Sydney. Amado accepts the deal, and Stoddard removes Richie from the case, which ends his career. The congressmen are prosecuted, and so is Carmine, who is sentenced to 18 months in prison. Irving and Sydney move in together and open a legitimateart gallery, while Rosalyn lives with Pete and shares custody of Danny with Irving.
The film began as anEric Warren Singer screenplay titledAmerican Bullshit. It was listed at #8 on the 2010Black List of most-liked unproduced screenplays. The production was set up atColumbia Pictures, withCharles Roven and Richard Suckle producing throughAtlas Entertainment, which initially consideredBen Affleck to direct, beforeDavid O. Russell was ultimately signed.[10] Russell rewrote Singer's screenplay, replacing the characters with caricatures of their respective real-life figures.[11] Russell regardedHustle, a highly fictionalized version of theAbscam scandal of the late 1970s and early 1980s, as the third in a loose trilogy of films about ordinary people trying to live passionate lives.[12]
Principal photography started on March 8, 2013, and wrapped in May 2013.[13][14] The film was shot in and aroundBoston, Massachusetts, as well asWorcester and in New York City.[15][16] Filming was put on hold in the aftermath of theBoston Marathon bombings, with the city in lockdown. After lockdown was lifted, the film wrapped its Boston shoot and spent its final few days of production in New York City.[17] Thesoundtrack, released byMadison Gate Records andLegacy Recordings on December 6, 2013, features a selection of popular music from the 1970s and 1980s.[18]
DirectorDavid O. Russell released the teaser trailer for the film on July 31, 2013,[19] and a theatrical trailer was released on October 9, 2013.[20] The film received nationwide United States release on December 13, 2013.[21]
American Hustle was released onDVD andBlu-ray on March 18, 2014.[22] A 4K SteelBook 10th Anniversary was released on May 21, 2024.
Variety estimated the production budget at $40 million. When producerCharles Roven was asked if the budget was in the $40 to $50 million area, he responded, "I'd say that's a good zone".[3][4]
The film earned $150.1 million in North American and $101.1 million in international markets, for a worldwide total of $251.2 million.[4][23] It made a net profit of $27 million when factoring all expenses and revenues for the film.[24]
American Hustle received critical acclaim, with high praise directed toward Bale's, Adams's, Cooper's and Lawrence's performances.[25][26][27] Review aggregation websiteRotten Tomatoes gives the film a 92% rating, based on 294 reviews, with an average score of 8.2/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Riotously funny and impeccably cast,American Hustle compensates for its flaws with unbridled energy and some of David O. Russell's most irrepressibly vibrant direction."[28]Metacritic gives a score of 90 out of 100, based on 47 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[29] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on a scale of "A+" to "F".[30]
CriticChristy Lemire awarded the film four stars out of four, praising David O. Russell's directing and the relationship between Irving and Sydney, as well as Jennifer Lawrence's portrayal of Rosalyn. She writes, "For all its brashness and big personality,American Hustle is a character study at its core—an exploration of dissatisfaction and drive, and the lengths to which we're willing to go for that elusive thing known as a better life."[31]
Richard Roeper of theChicago Sun-Times gave the film an A+, complimenting Bradley Cooper's performance and stating thatAmerican Hustle was "the best time I've had at the movies all year". He later named it the year's best film.[32]
Time magazine'sRichard Corliss wrote, "American Hustle is an urban eruption of flat-out fun—the sharpest, most exhilarating comedy in years. Anyone who says otherwise must be conning you."[33]
Peter Debruge ofVariety was critical of the film, calling it "a sloppy sprawl of a movie" and complaining that the improvisational performances overwhelm, instead of adding to a coherent plot. He also wrote that it "makes your brain hurt—and worse, overwhelms the already over-complicated Abscam re-telling at the center of the film".[34]
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American Hustle received sevenGolden Globe Award nominations; it won forBest Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, with Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence winningBest Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy andBest Supporting Actress – Motion Picture, respectively.[35][36]
The film received tenOscar nominations, includingBest Picture,Best Director,Best Original Screenplay, andall four acting categories,[8] but did not win in any category. The film received the second highest number of nominations for a film that did not win any Oscars, a distinction it shares withGangs of New York,True Grit,The Irishman andKillers of the Flower Moon, after the 11 forThe Turning Point andThe Color Purple. It was the fifteenth film to be nominated in the four acting categories, and only the second since 1981, afterSilver Linings Playbook, that Russell also directed.[37] Of the fifteen films, it joins onlyMy Man Godfrey andSunset Boulevard to not win any acting awards.[38]
The film took top honors at the20th Screen Actors Guild Awards, winning for Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture.[39]
The film was nominated for tenBritish Academy Film Awards, with Jennifer Lawrence winning forActress in a Supporting Role and David O. Russell and Eric Warren Singer winning forBest Original Screenplay.[40][41]
In October 2014, science writerPaul Brodeur filed a defamation lawsuit against the producers and distributors ofAmerican Hustle, based on a line in the film in which Rosalyn tells Irving thatmicrowave ovens take the nutrition out of food, stating that she read it in an article by Brodeur. In real life, Brodeur has written books, includingThe Zapping of America, about the dangers of microwave radiation, but he claims that he has never stated that the process removes a food's nutrition.[42][43]
The defendants immediately filed a motion under California's anti-SLAPP statute to strike the complaint and award attorney fees, which the trial court initially denied.[44] The decision was reversed by theCalifornia Court of Appeal, which held that the motion should have been granted because "the general tenor of American Hustle, the entirely farcical nature of the 'science oven' scene, and the ditzy nature of the character uttering the allegedly defamatory statement, all indicate that an audience would not expect anything Rosalyn says to reflect objective fact", and that, in view of this, Brodeur "failed to carry his burden of showing a probability of prevailing on his defamation claim".[45]
American Hustle is a dramatization of theFBI'sAbscamsting operation in the late 1970s and early 1980s that led to convictions of, among others, seven members of theUnited States Congress. The film does not attempt to directly document the events of Abscam. The names are changed, and the film begins with the on-screen message, "Some of this actually happened".[46] Major departures from reality include:
When pressed with a $40 million-$50 million figure, Roven responds: "I'd say that's a good zone."
