In theaters Friday, December 13
3.5 stars (out of 4)
Once again, the winner is...Jennifer Lawrence.
In a dazzling movie about the art of the con, the actress —- playing a
feisty and frustrated New York housewife —- manages to steal all her
scenes. And that's no small feat, given the powerhouse lineup in this
latest offering from director David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook).
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The opening disclaimer —- which reads, "Some of this really happened"
-- sets the tongue-in-cheek tone about the FBI investigation that took
down a slew of politicians in the late '70s and early '80s. Here, the
bedlam starts with oily scam artist Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale,
who packed on 50 pounds to get that sizable gut). He's smugly
self-satisfied on his dry cleaning businesses and fake art dealership
when he meets slinky Sydney (Amy Adams). She cooks up a posh British accent and a new name, and the two set up an elaborate, phony-baloney loan business.
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While they celebrate their success in bed, Irving's wife Rosalyn
(Lawrence) taps her well-manicured nails at home in the Long Island
suburbs with their son. But complications don't mean a thing as long as
they all have the green. That is, until Irving and Sydney get busted by
an undercover agent (Bradley Cooper). To avoid jail, they're persuaded by the hotheaded fed to reel in an amiable New Jersey mayor (Jeremy Renner) in over his head in a corrupt gambling scheme.
Even with the meaty narrative, style trumps substance. And frankly,
after a fall season dominated by harrowing survival stories, it's a
welcome relief to see actors in their prime be outrageous and let their
hair down. So to speak, anyway: In this case, the men go to amusing
lengths to primp their coifs. (Bale meticulously covers bald-spot with a
comb-over; Cooper sits at home with his mother with his hair in tiny
pink curlers). Adams, meanwhile, stuns in a series of sexy low-cut
dresses that also serve as an advertisement for double-stick tape. In
fact, when the principals meet at a nightclub to set up a sting, the
rapid-fire dialogue is secondary to Adams' plunging neckline and
Lawrence's va-va-voom number and brassy updo. And it's an essential
scene!
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Yes, Lawrence. She and her Silver Linings love Cooper share
scant quality screen time together, but the young actress proves she
doesn't need a male costar to guide her. Her big moments come in a
flash, most memorably when, after tattling on her husband, she belts out
"Live and Let Die" in her house. Wearing yellow dish gloves. At age 23,
she has the gravitas and charm to seduce Bale in the bedroom, Adams in a
bathroom and, just for good measure, a mobster in a car. Hope she's
clearing her mantel for more trophies. She might as well get those
press-on nails gold-plated, too.
Friday, December 13, 2013
Jennifer
Lawrence steals the show in the David O. Russell-directed film
alongside Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner
Credit: Annapurna Productions LLC
