American Hustle (David O. Russell, 2013)

Presumably the 'American' in the title is to add glamour in regulation fashion, or to announce that a political comment on the state of the nation is being made, rather than just distinguishing it from the UK TV series. In any case, we're landed in the familiar territory of voiceovers and double crosses as we follow a pair of grifters try to manage the pickle they find themselves in after being offered a deal by an ambitious FBI agent. This means bringing down corrupt politicians through a series of stings, and the film saunters perkily enough through these. It shies away from the outright carefree capering of Ocean's Eleven and the like, but one suspects that the director would really like his work to be seen in the Casino class, and this falls short through a lack of real originality in the script and a cast that is man-for-man more lightweight, something which Robert De Niro's walk-through cameo as a Mafia enforcer only serves to highlight. Still, the dialogue is lively, and the '70s fashion horror show detail of hairstyles and Sta-Prest clothing is a character in itself, so it's not without its own charms.

6/10