I'm a Hustler Baby

Before I start I just want to give a heads up that this will be the start of a blogging binge that will last at least through the end of the year. So for the seven people in my life that actually enjoy it when I write things, consider this your Christmas present. And I don't mean that metaphorically. I didn't buy you anything, so this is your present.

Moving on.

I went to go see American Hustle with my wife on Friday night as the second half of our dinner and a movie date. The first half was dinner at Applebee's because my wife (a teacher) had received a gift card from one of her students. (Side note: my wife was bragging that her job was better than mine for reasons such as receiving gifts like this, until I pointed out that my job actually paid a livable wage.  She still get summers off so we called it a tie.)  Anyway, we had decided on American Hustle for a variety of reasons; It was being touted as one of the best movies of the year, it had a cast of actors and actresses we both thoroughly enjoyed and finally it sounded like an interesting story. So needless to say we were both going in with pretty lofty expectations.

Maybe that was part of the problem.  Let me be clear, this was not a bad movie. It just felt like it was missing something. And for being not much over two hours, it felt really long. Full disclosure here, we went at 9 and didn't get out of there until after 11, and I'm probably the oldest 26 year old around. I won't deny that this could have been a factor. But regardless, I could tell that I was siting in the same spot for over two hours and that's not a great sign for any movie.

American Hustle promised to resonate with the audience the same way Goodfellas did a generation before. That promise went unfulfilled. It's hard to put a finger on what exactly went wrong, but for whatever reason, the movie just didn't connect with me enough to force me to care about the fate of its characters.  The actors performed as well as I had expected and the story was interesting even if it was a little on the predictable side.  There were some funny lines interspersed with quality dramatic dialogue.  I just didn't care. The result of the film never mattered to me, and I think if you're making a good movie, you have to hook your audience so they feel invested in the outcome.  Nothing about this movie ever grabbed me and told me to pay attention.

It is entirely possible I'm alone in feeling this way, and I'm alright with that. Like I said, all the pieces were there for a great movie, it just didn't come together for me.  If you have seen the movie let me know what you think.