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David O. Russell films are an acquired taste. The acting in them is very mannered and specific. This is true, especially regarding his later films like Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle. He has primarily had success with anarchic films like Flirting With Disaster, Three Kings, I Heart Huckabees and The Fighter. Despite this, he has a terrible reputation for working with actors and for sexual misconduct allegations. He is known for his temper. Amsterdam is his first film in 7 years, and it might be his last.
While there’s no doubt from a production standpoint Amsterdam is a top-notch film (it’s shot beautifully by Emmanuel Lubezki), from a screenplay and direction standpoint, the film is all over the place. Here you have this insanely massive A-list cast, and they all have nothing to do but act all mannered and weird. Not only that, but the film wastes a critical moment ripe for retelling in American history, the Business Plot of 1933. It tells a fictionalized story of this with zero urgencies whatsoever. It took me three separate times to finish the movie because it did not interest me.
Given the current circumstances in American politics, this is a waste of an opportunity to tell a story about the dangers of the rise of fascism. The film instead tiptoes around the dangers of fascism to give us characters we don’t care about and to introduce smaller characters that have weird minor little roles that don’t add anything to the story. Christian Bale gives a performance that’s almost like a parody of a Christian Bale performance. John David Washington and Margot Robbie have zero chemistry. Heck, one of the better performances in the film is from Taylor Swift, who appears briefly.
As a fan of Russell’s work in the past, the vast A-list cast, and with interest in this subject in American history, the fact this film could barely hold my attention is quite an accomplishment. Amsterdam bombed at the box office and received negative reviews. As I said, it took David O. Russell 7 years between his last two films. One wonders if he’ll get an opportunity like this again.
** out of ****
