About the film (courtesy of 20th Century Studios):
An original crime epic about three close friends who find themselves at the center of one of the most shocking secret plots in American history.
David O. Russell assembles a stellar cast in this 1930s-set comedy drama that uncovers and sheds light upon one of America’s more shocking conspiracies in its rich history of conspiracies. The three-time Oscar-nominated director eagerly looks for a return to prominence in a trip down memory lane to Amsterdam. Unfortunately, there’s not enough Joy to be found in this Silver Linings Playbook to appreciate the American Hustle of a story that often seems to be Flirting with Disaster. Movie title puns aside, this foggy feature leaves you high on hope and ultimately never delivers.
Christian Bale, John David Washington and Margot Robbie are the three leads in a story that bounces all over the place, and even at over 130 minutes long, Amsterdam fails to find a way to effectively tell their story without the plot pinballing left, right and every which way in between. This become more convoluted with huge arsenal of talent aiming to get satisfactory screen time as well. Other major names include Chris Rock, Zoe Saldana, Timothy Olyphant, Matthias Schoenaerts, Michael Shannon, Mike Myers, Rami Malek, Anya Taylor-Joy, Robert De Niro and even Taylor Swift.
How in the heck can all of these actors have their moment in the sun while also trying to maintain a relatively complex plot? In short, you can’t; at least not without sacrificing some aspect of the creative process. It seems that David O. Russell to go big on his impressive talent list, but leans on mediocre chemistry and a disjointed plot in the hopes that audiences will be too starstruck to focus on the shortcomings of Amsterdam.
While briefly holding my attention at times, Amsterdam loses its grip on getting audiences to buy-in to the scandalous story that is supposedly oh so shocking. Sometimes less is more and, over the years, David O. Russell has done a lot more with less. Some of the acting performances are good and some of the characters just “try too hard” to convey a sense of unstableness, Christian Bale being the biggest offender. His character is more of an annoyance, and this in no way speaks to the level of talent that the veteran actor has. I just feel like his efforts were misplaced.
No one really stands out and shines, which is saying a lot since there were so many opportunities for someone to step up to demand attention and admiration. Instead, sitting through Amsterdam just becomes a frustrating endeavor simply because in has all of the ingredients to turn itself into something special. One thing’s for certain here, there won’t be any fanfare or buzz for this getting any year-end award recognition.
You can check out Amsterdam if you want to, but I’d recommend waiting for as long as it takes to land somewhere that allows you to view this one in the comfort of your own home. If you’d rather get your hopes dashed and still want to check this one out, you can see it only in theaters starting Friday, with early showings on Thursday evening.
