ADAMS. Goes for the thespic jugular.
Actors and viewers who are searching for prime examples of performers who “disappear” into the roles assigned to them need look no further—the current film, “American Hustle,” is a veritable showcase of counterstellar characterizations in which the stars all “vanish” into the roles they’re playing in a spectacular display of “thespic magic” that’s truly one for the books.
It’s the best example of thespic prestidigitation we’ve seen for a long time, rivaled only by the similarly stunning transformations in “Behind the Candelabra.”
In that earlier TV movie, lead stars, Michael Douglas, Matt Damon and Rob Lowe, virtually “died” so that the characters of Liberace, his lover and a close colleague could blazingly “live.”
The same “magical” phenomemnon happens in “American Hustle,” with stars Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Christian Bale and Jeremy Renner all changing not just their appearance but practically their thespic essence to convincingly portray people very different from themselves.
Coming from both sides of the law, these lovers and strangers find themselves enmeshed in an FBI sting operation that starts out as a modest scheme to entrap a politico or two, but ends up with a bunch of congressmen and even a senator as part of its collateral damage! The operation is thought up by an FBI agent (Cooper) in great need of attention and advancement, who gets so unhinged that his originally simple scheme gets blown way out of proportion.
‘Antihero’ role
The mere fact that Cooper is cast in the clearly “antihero” role is remarkable in itself because the actor is better known for his less chiaroscuro lead portrayals. Here, he kisses his golden-boy image goodbye and plays it quicksilver and trigger-happy, a landmine just waiting to explode.
The fact that he’s playing a flawed, erratic lawman makes his portrayal an exceptionally unnerving viewing experience, evoking a sense of increasing disquiet, fear and ultimate terror that Cooper’s costars are only too happy to intensify with their own unexpectedly “perverse” portrayals.
Perhaps the most uncharacteristic characterization of all is turned in by Amy Adams as the film’s resident vixen. Better known for her sweet and sunny screen portrayals, Adams now upchucks all that sweetness and light, and goes for the thespic jugular, playing it raw and rancid from start to finish.
It must have taken a lot of thought and calculation for the veteran actress to play it mean and nasty for a change, but she also makes sure to project her “survivor” character’s vulnerable side, so the harshly unflattering character portrait she paints is empathetically and contextually “understood” by her startled viewers.
Bale and Lawrence also come up with textured and insightful portrayals, making “American Hustle” the film season’s most remarkable thespic showcase to date. Bale even goes to the extent of giving himself a partially bald pate, which he then carefully conceals with an extremely complicated hairstyle. —What great and unblinking attention to detail!
As for Lawrence, her “slutty young housewife” characterization here comes out of left field—but hits a thespic home-run of its own!