Katie Boe

I would like to point out that I saw a preview for and wanted to see American Hustle long before it started getting all this Golden Globe and Oscar buzz — I believe it was when I saw Blue Jasmine — and that should somehow make me seem cooler. I would also like to point out that my absolute favorite thing about this movie is the fashion, and that should not at all make me seem shallow. Seriously, look at this!

Do you not want to own all of these things? I sure do.

Anyhow, I was given some very useful advice before going to see this movie: Pay attention. It’s a con movie, which means there are multiple cons going on, and you have to really focus on what’s going on to understand what’s going on. I think I did a pretty good job of that, evidenced by my not asking my boyfriend 600 questions during the film.

So Irving (a nearly unrecognizable Christian Bale) and Sydney a.k.a. Edith (Amy Adams) scam people by promising them loans but really just take their money, and they are also madly in love even though Irving is married to a fabulous-haired Jennifer Lawrence. They have a pretty good deal going until they get caught by an undercover FBI agent (Bradley Cooper), but instead of going to jail they have to help him catch other con artists and dirty politicians, including the mayor (Jeremy Renner) of good old Camden, New Jersey. This is where things start to go awry. The new team disagrees on how to go about conning their new victims, and they get deeply mixed up in some money laundering that is supposed to help get Atlantic City up and running (it was 1978, after all).

Fun fact: In a film loosely about Atlantic City, not one but TWO Boardwalk Empire cast members make an appearance — Jack Huston (scary half-face man) and Shea Wigham (Nucky’s brother). Neato, huh?!

So to sum up, the film is very good. It even makes you feel bad for all the criminals. It’s not Best Picture-worthy, mind you, but it’s definitely Best Actor- (Bale) and Best Supporting Actress- (Lawrence) worthy. They’ve both really nailed it in terms of playing completely crazy people.